Sebi reviews norm for MFs to publish audited accounts

The capital market regulator on Thursday held a preliminary round of discussion with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI), the body for mutual funds in the country.

According to sources, the matter will be referred to the Sebi board scheduled to meet in Mumbai next week.

Fund houses publish abridged annual reports in April and October each year. Amfi has argued that fund houses can save on huge advertisement costs and eliminate tedious work by providing the information online instead of a print ad or a printed copy.

 

"Current regulations mandate that audited accounts should be published in newspapers. We are looking at the matter," said A P Kurian, chairman, AMFI. He however, refused to divulge any further details.

Mutual fund regulations will have to be amended if Sebi approves Amfi's proposal. The Sebi board is also likely to approve the simplification of offer document (OD) of new fund offerings (NFOs) as this would reduce the cost and time involved in preparing and filing offer documents with the regulator.

Sebi recently proposed fast-track clearances for fixed maturity plans (FMPs) that invest only in short-term debt instruments.

About 70 per cent of the mutual fund offer documents are filed for closed-ended schemes such as FMPs and interval schemes involving several series.

Although mutual fund houses make disclosures according to mandatory key information memorandum (KIM), the market players still think that a large portion of the offer documents are repetitive.