You are absolutely right Sir. But the problem is IFAs are Not United. They have no platform for the same to take up their cuase. So, we are at the receiving end. Also, we have to make the investor understand of much we will earn, in which scenario and when, in case if questioned by investor. If investor has trust on us, he will understand our situation and accept it.

First of all we have to understand that In India common man which is still missing from MFs is skeptical about these products. As in the past 30-40 years he has been fleeced by similar products..Regulator only want big money to be in Mfs not retail. thats why he is acting against the retail IFAs.

Dear Amit, Excellent article with spot on mention of the actual barriers faced by the IFA. Whats the way ahead....

It is true that IFAs have adapted changes and are successful. One point I donot understand, why institutional brokers are silent? Will these new stipulations do not impact them? Or they have found out some other remedy?

very Good chapter on mfs ifas. Ifas should wake up and choose to some other profession and act as parttime professors for mfs.,for that matter any financial product. or else refrain from professing and serve some one else/ choose to some other fruitful employment

As always to the point. Very valid point Amit, that since 2009 till date despite so much of negativity and volatility, ifas have been able to do hand holding the investors, in fact they have been bringing new investors. Even the investor understands that ifa is getting paid for it and its not charity. The ifas commission is already capped and there is hardly any scope for misseling and I think it was a very good step.

Fully agree with Amit. SEBI has absolutely no insight into ground realities or the efforts taken by IFAs to nurture investors. Instead of gathering data on the so called malpractices and identifying persons or firms responsible for the same, they are taking draconian measures aimed at harming the growth of this industry. We are equally keen on protecting investor interest but not at the expense of losing our dignity or sharing our earnings.

This, Goodday fetcher govt. really fetching good days to the india. Particularly serving the best cause of growing unemployment. Advocates deciding the fate of our economy, what a joke ? no i dont want to be arogant nor am I. this is the agony of every interprenure no matter young or younger. Tea and Ketly both destroying the cake, let us stop both of them. lets protest with every strongest possible manner to show our anger and dissatisfaction with them.

IFAs are doing a great work. Ironically they are paid the least! These two are contradictions while being facts. Now how can this be fixed?For the same product , if a Bank gets 3% commission , and my friend gets 0.3 % , I have a natural bias to my friend( if I were to hire one of them for the service). So the banks and the likes are crying. Coming to IFA part , apart form all the good work they are doing , they have to brand themselves strongly with each of their clients( a strong advisory relationship) othewise , why shall they get the perpetual trail? Disclosures are problematic but its bringing in solutions for so many bigger problems.Is it not good?

Amit Sir, Brilliant article, straight from the heart.. But the problems has been the fact that the regulator has taken this fight personal and remember we have always been advised to keep business and personal agenda separate.

perfact analysis amit sir i think if we form a number of group we will not been able to shown our strength ,lets United! join a national group and raise our Voice

I wish the regulator will ponder upon their dictate .

(Part 2)There is a lot of talk about the retail investor as to only god can save him, distributors are necessary otherwise schemes will fail (common example NPS), after taking out agents from PPF have people stopped depositing money in PPF, 3 days ago I was in a nationalised bank and the lady manager was exhorting me to get at least 3 people to open PPF accounts to meet her branch targets.The average retail guy is very happy with PPF,Bank FDs, Gold and Real Estate, these have made money for him since generations, we after all out supposed efforts have got 3-4% participation in equity and Mfs, how many of us who went to foreign trips by AMCs opposed them, there is no point in opposing AMCs now, they are here to do business if you dont work with them they will get it done from somewhere else period. For those who wish to stay on they have to work under the laws of the country else we will continue to have discussions like these in forums only.

Another Nice article after Yamini sood , which describe current issue so clearly . But Question is still there :- 1. What to do ? 2. How to do ? 3. Is there some thing going to change or we just be like victims , who do there best for industry but finally get Punished ?

Well said Amit bhai on Resilience of an IFA is killing itself!!! whole new perspective!!

Very well written article, point is how many articles like this will we read and do NOTHING, resilience my foot, many in this business of those who are left are either too big so it possibly dosent affect them much or are too small who cannot or do not want to do anything else, otherwise why on earth will anyone work for 0.5% trail with goalposts changing every Friday ??? When will a distributor/advisor write about action to be taken??? if no then we are condemned to doom by a regulator who says AMCs are in the clutches of the distributors. Those who fail to see the writing on the wall are doomed to extinction

Amit - As usual straight from the heart. Most importantly, it not biased. Though every action from regulator is on account of investor protection but after taking action review process is missing. Its preconceived notion that every action will bring the desired fruits. But it’s more of an assumption game rather than data driven. In-fact Dhruv Mehta in his massage has also asked regulator to share the data/report with respective stake holders – to arrive at common conclusion/platform. Would encourage advisor’s/association community to share views on unbiased way and maintain dialog with regulator, policy makers and other stake holder, so that we can really protect investors interest and prosper (all stake holders). Thank you once gain to Wealthforum for keeping engagement on healthier manner.

The clearest expressed thoughts on the current impasse. The points stated are so very clear & lucid & if the regulator is not able to understand the language, God save the retail investor. In the name of protecting the retail investor maximum damage is being done & it could not have been expressed better. Thank you Amit Biwalkar.

Agree with Mr. Bivalkar. Many leading IFAs have written very good articles analysing the current SEBI orders and I feel all this should be collated by someone or by welathforum, cafemutual and other outfits related to MF industry and also coupled with views expressed by Dhirendra Kumar or Valueresearch, Uma Shashikant of CIEL AND many others should also be put together for reading by IFAs to understand the issue. This is a war like situation and at least at this point of time all IFAs under different banners should come together and form a unified national body to fight such regulations. I feel IFAs should also be always prepared to do/find some other activities if this business turns out to be unattractive as per individual assessments. Full trail was never acceptable and whenever Iquestioned the advocates of the same, nobody replied. I was against the idea of no load since day one but nobody in the industry was ready to listen. I am very happy that IFAs of the stature of Mr. B

Amit , Eye opening article. Agreed from your vision . I know the IFA from very small cities , giving the services from the very beginning ie from filling of PAN card form to delivering the statements of very small investments in mutual funds starting from only 100 rs per month. Even after serving the MF industry we are in the crucial time where our business is snaching by imposing the disputed rules and regulation . 1. Why there is the diffrence in expence ratio. 2. Why charging service tax from IFA When LIC OF INDIA ICICI PRU LIFE HDFC LIFE RELIANCE LIFE BSL LIFE TATA LIFE SBI LIFE . all are charging the service tax from Its policy holder. While LIC NOMURA MF ICICI MF HDFC MF RELIANCE MF BSL MF SBI MF TATA MF etc Same group cos Are not charging the service tax from its investor. All are imposing on IFA. Now facing a new problem of brokerage information to investor.

Mr.Bivalkar I agree with you 100%.

Amit, very well said. Unfortunately it appears that we have no choice but to become more resilient. We operate in an environment where we learn about new regulations that fundamentally affect our business only in the media. Forget about being a stakeholder with a seat at the table and an ability to influence, we dont even receive formal communication in advance of the event. The silence on the issue from our AMC partners, who are usually prompt to reach out and communicate, has been deafening. This will only widen the trust deficit that seems to be growing with each instance of an AMC pitching direct to our clients. A clear regulatory roadmap, even if for only three years would really help us!

Very well articulate article Amit - Captures the essence of the views of the IFA community across the length and breadth of the country who have been providing yeomans service in mobilization household savings and achieving retail penetration . I fully agree that elimination by regulation of the sub-broker system in secondary markets , led to brokers to focus on service FII/ DIIs and ignore retail clients --- and with a Growrh in FII volumes led to fall in brokerage which has benefited the fii/ DII but eliminated the retail participation --Also turnover volumes have gone up dramatically in the F&O segment which has encouraged speculation , unnecessary churning and volatility . and retail investor losing money which is harmful from investor protection Clearly the transparent and low brokerages in the secondary market has not protected the interest of retail investors . And as you have highlighted MF regulations are headed in the same directions .

Agreed fully but do we exit the business and start selling real estate or insurance ..or are we going to do some kind of joint petition or dharna outside SEBI office

very good thought out article. keep writing Amit.

very well said by amit its very true only one thing i want to say that mf industry is at infant stage sebi please dont kill this industry just think of retail investors where will they go for advice

Go and make a survey in rural areas - people are not having financial literacy and only IFAs are creating financal literacy. No Banks and any other finanial institution is doing it. Is it our (IFAs) crime ? Creating awareness and increasing financial literacy? why SEBI trying to kill IFAs by pressing necks? Finally Thanks to regulators for awaking me that " There is no respect to a Milk seller ( good things) and Govt always respect a person who sells liquer (bad things).

Due to brokerage reduction in Stock Broking industry small investors are sent away from the industry. with this disccount brokers comes into picture - are the investor really benifited with discount brokers?? They are encouraging churning. And making money on numer of transactions. Finally the small investor sent away from the industry. The same thing is going to happen in MF Industry also. I think SEBI is trying to do this only. SEBI has no time to control on Ponji Schemes, Fraudent Chit Fund Companies, Money Circulation Schemes, Chain Link Schemes etc..

frequent change of syllabus deters many a student to appear for the exams thereby destructing the value of education(as is happening). the people themselves never ever sought any misgiving of commission structure and are happy with the returns. the regulator is frequently shifting the goal post only to favour a few and destroy the employment channel of IFA forever with their thoughtless and spine less actions. the rewards are not in the national interests of generating a socio-economic goal of vasudaika kutumbum for every living being on the earth.

Amit - straight from the heart, I have a sneaky suspicion inshallah we will survive this one too, as competition will shut down. This just boils down to staying ahead of the regulatory curve but the market participants are going down, paradoxically awareness/ need in clients / prospects is going up there are these well known cases of savvy fund manager schemes owning Visual Soft, Pentafour Products, HF, Padmini Polymers, who played pied piper into the Arabian Sea, Yamuna. It will be interesting to see which bank sold how much of those NFOs from 1999 onwards. The net only facilitated research on these purchases by clever young 30/40 year olds, it wasnt so useful for transacting back then. An IFA has her own small universe of clients served over a lifetime and they are a must for this country to grow out of real estate / gold but the writing on the wall is ominous.