Amfi to approach Sebi on agent commission disclosure issue

The association of mutual funds, Amfi, has decided to approach capital market regulator Sebi on the issue of disclosing commission paid to individual agents by fund houses.
Besides discussing proposed disclosure of individual agent commissions in the financial statements of fund houses, Amfi in its meeting today also discussed the issue of dividend stripping.
Sources said the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) has decided to approach Sebi on the matter of disclosure of individual agent commission in the larger interest of its members.
As part of efforts to ensure more transparency, the industry body had asked the fund houses to disclose the individual distributor commission in the account statements sent to investors.

However, some fund houses are believed to be opposed to that idea.
At present, the statement of account sent to each investor includes details about their folio number, investment amount, gains/loss, and certain KYC details.

The industry grouping also discussed the issue of dividend stripping -- an illicit practice used for possible tax evasion through investments in mutual funds.
Earlier, Sebi had written to the fund houses seeking their clarification on whether they were indulging in 'dividend stripping'.
In their respective responses, most of the fund houses have stated that they were not adopting any such techniques.