Deepak Khosla’s case..
By now Deepak Khosla’s case in Delhi High court has been splashed in all papers…and of course the net also has the details. I am not here to argue about the merits of the case. Does not matter…but let us look at the Ordinary Citizen – means you and me.
I have been asked the following questions:
– why is the mutual fund penetration so poor in India?
– why do people not invest in direct equities as much ?
If you are wondering what is the connection – let me clarify.
Try being an ordinary citizen and deal with High Courts, banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, etc. YOU will realize what i mean. Even as an educated person dealing with the BFSI I am not so happy going into these organisations to deal with them.
One senior citizen was told ‘you will not understand TDS’ – he was the ex head of finance of a major Indian group. The staff is so damn over worked (or whatever) that they have either no patience or no time to be polite. In case of one bank, the head of grievance cell has a SALES TARGET. This guy has to sympathise with the client, and in that sympathy state pitch sell a ulip – a pension plan so that there is no medical check up. Quick closure.
I am sure many of us have bitter experiences with our bankers – it can be a sick in the stomach feeling…not sure how many of you are willing to share it online………please do in the comments column. The number of mutual funds means nothing. really nothing.
bhushan
I had a FD getting matured.(Mistake done 5 years before when i didnt know ELSS). The shock was that it had to be done manually as it was tax saver FD and when i had taken it i was not told that i will have to give bank details and ask them to submit it there. Then as the RM saw that the amount of FD was large he tried pitching for ULIP. I also wanted to open a locker for Gold. He said yu will have to buy ULIP. I said i am ready to lock it into FD but he frankly said we would only take ULIP as it was more benefical for Bank.
The whole expereince was sickening and actuall i feel pity for the poor RM. Would advise him to leave that job and salvage his soul. Luckily i am now mature and dont care about such RMs and all of that money is going into monthly SIPs
Raj
Went to open a joint account for me and spouse. I had my Aadhar Card as Address & ID proof and wife had PAN card as ID proof. Since my wife didn’t had Address proof in my place, I had the Marriage certificate to consider my Address proof for the spouse as well. Person in the counter asked me to submit Marriage invitation and said Registered Marriage Certificate not sufficient. Yes, it was in a PSU bank.
kannu
Went to Bank for opening the locker, the staff said the locker is not available and long quue is there, but there is one way where you can get the locker immediately, if i put atlest 50k-100k in Ulips or other financial product, than the locker can be openend immediately. But due to my awareness, i convined them and opted for the MF Equity SIP, this way i get the locker and also the good return on my MF investment.
Viren
I am given an international debit card by SBI. The charges are offcourse high. When I inquired about getting a normal one, they told me yes, it is possible. Just that I have to pay additional charges as they would treat it as debit card lost. Still have not done that.. action item on me.
MRHDK2012
I have some investments in UTI Mutual Funds. My bank account and mobile number were not updated in the folio. I visited their office in Model Colony, Pune and submitted necessary documents.
The details didn’t get updated for one month. I followed up few times. Now they are asking me to submit the documents again.
IDFC Mutual Fund is another story. I wanted to change the bank details from Citibank to SBI. The person from IDFC’s Pune office asked me to get a letter from Citibank. It’s ridiculous.
moronbuffett
british left 3 things as their wonderful legacy for india – subservience to white skin, railways and beureaucracy
for even basic necessities you have to run pillar to post. ask anyone who shifted residences from one state to another!
whoever brought ration card as id / address proof must be shot in their balls.
CDSouza
Relationship Officers! That is an oxymoron. Why are they even employed by banks and insurance companies is beyond my understanding. I have an Ulip policy which I made paid up after paying 3 installments. Suddenly I received an email from the insurance company that I need to revive my policy. When I clarified to them that I don’t need to revive anything, all I got was a stock reply from the relationship officer listing what to do when a policy lapses. It took several angry emails before they actually read my email and wrote back saying the initial email was sent by system error. Needless to say there was no apology.
Surya
Q) why is the mutual fund penetration so poor in India?
Ans) ” Mutual Fund Investments are Subject to Market Risks”.
SEBI should replace this line with something sensible.
moronbuffett
– why is the mutual fund penetration so poor in India? –
bcos ppl get afraid or confused when they dont understand financial products. hence why waste hard earned money better safe than sorry
plus most of them invest in xyz bcos their best friend who is also a sales agent or bank manager or pimp asked them to do so
why do people not invest in direct equities as much ?
ppl jump in equity bcos their 5th cousin of their grandfather’s uncle made a killing in share market and became gazillionaire overnight. when they do the same, they suffer losses. once bitten twice shy
call it ignorance, loss aversion, poor risk tolerance, laziness blah blah
Krish
I am a NRI, passionate about personal finance, investments and taxation. I am into lot of Indian F Products (equity, MFs, FDs, Insurance, etc..). Being from senior management, am quite well aware of corporate finance (CAPEX, OPEX, Working capital, Balance sheet etc..) too.
When I walk into any branch of Indian bank, I see this trend everywhere with every bank and branch. Most of the staff assumes you are big dumb and they are genious ‘who know everything’ about money management. The ideas that they float to get your funds into their products makes me believe they are wiz/biz kids indeed.
I tolerate the trash for a while. Once the sales pitch starts, I invariably start my class (good at teaching) starting with basics, pros and cons of each product and much more. They quickly understand whom they are talking to. I always end up getting a great service and never a phone call about any product sale. Even today, none of my home branch staff except the BM dare talk to me. My RM never attempted to sell any product in last 8 yrs.
Ajay
Getting a bank locker without buying a ulip seems next to impossible these days
Could finally get one after the fourth attempt
amarjeet singh
It will be better if we write the Bank name and the City. I think that may help people also.
Ashish
My friend approached one of the private bank where he is a priority customer and asked for locker. The RM without any shame asked for one lac ULIP for the same. They said it is rule. When I asked that can they give this in writing. They are ready to do so.
Nikhil
I had a RD(recurring deposit) with ICICI Bank. The RD had to be broken prematurely. But to ensure that the penalty that was imposed was correct and to calculate my tax, I requested them for a statement for the RD. After talking to multiple people on their customer helpline I got the same reply – Sir we do not provide any statement for a RD. I had to manually go through my old account statements and do the calculations, not really ap roblem, but it just shows a lack of professionalism to me.