Exploring Customer Preference for Mutual Funds

With the impending liberalization of the financial market, India has emerged as a major investment destination, both in terms of size and choice, in the mutual fund industry. The Indian Financial sector has witnessed entry of various global players, who are trying to attract the Indian consumers with well-designed products and benefits. This paper surveys the relative importance of factors considered important in the selection of mutual funds by investors in Indian financial market. Using the technique of Factor Analysis this study identifies five factors which describes the consumer preferences and revealed that Past performance. Core product features; Expense ratio, Risk-Return tradeoff and Liquidity are the important factors while evaluating a mutual fund scheme. The result of this survey points out that a discrete product design along with features expected by investors will make the mutual fund schemes more attractive.