The mutual fund will have a fund manager (team of experts) who is responsible for investing the gathered money into specific securities (stocks or bonds). When you invest in a mutual fund, you are buying units or portions of the mutual fund and thus on investing becomes a shareholder or unit holder of the fund.

The profits or losses are shared by the investors in proportion to their investments. The mutual funds normally come out with a number of schemes with different investment objectives which are launched from time to time. A mutual fund is required to be registered with Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) which regulates securities markets before it can collect funds from the public.

Types of Mutual Funds BY STRUCTURE

Close Ended Fund/ Scheme:

A close-ended fund or scheme has a stipulated maturity period For eg. 5-7 years. The fund is open for subscriptttion only during a specified period at the time of launch of the scheme. Investors can invest in the scheme at the time of the initial public issue and thereafter they can buy or sell the units of the scheme on the stock exchanges where the units are listed. In order to provide an exit route to the investors, some close-ended funds give an option of selling back the units to the mutual fund through periodic repurchase at NAV related prices or they are listed in secondary market.

Open Ended Fund/ Scheme:

An open-ended mutual fund is the most common type of mutual fund available for investment. An investor can choose to invest or transact in these schemes when ever he likes to. In an open-ended mutual fund, there is no limit to the number of investors, shares, or overall size of the fund, unless the fund manager decides to close the fund to new investors in order to keep it manageable. The value or share price of an open-ended mutual fund is determined at the market close every day and is called the Net Asset Value (NAV).

Interval Schemes:

Interval Schemes are that scheme, which combines the features of open-ended and close-ended schemes. The units may be traded on the stock exchange or may be open for sale or redemption during pre-determined intervals at NAV related prices. FMP or the Fixed Maturity Plans are the example for these types of schemes.

Types of Mutual Funds BY INVESTMENT OBJECTIVE

Growth Schemes

Growth Schemes are also known as equity schemes. The aim of these schemes is to provide capital appreciation over medium to long term. These schemes normally invest a major part of their fund in equities and are willing to bear short-term decline in value for possible future appreciation.

Income Schemes

Income Schemes are also known as debt schemes. The aim of these schemes is to provide regular and steady income to investors. These schemes generally invest in fixed income securities such as bonds and corporate debentures. Capital appreciation in such schemes may be limited.

Index Schemes

Index schemes attempt to replicate the performance of a particular index such as the BSE sens*x or the NSE 50. The portfolio of these schemes will consist of only those stocks that constitute the index. The percentage of each stock to the total holding will be identical to the stocks index weight age. And hence, the returns from such schemes would be more or less equivalent to those of the Index.