Sebi launched Mitra platform: Know how it can help mutual fund investors
Capital market regulator Sebi is undertaking steps to enhance investor convenience at a furious pace. The Mitra platform is another step in this direction. It helps an investor to detect and retrieve mutual fund investments if they/family members have forgotten any, which is the first step in claiming any old and forgotten investment.
Kolkata: The Mitra platform is a step by capital markets regulator Sebi to enhance investor convenience. In fact, it fulfils a long-standing gap. It will help anyone to locate mutual fund investments if one has lost track of them. It will enable one to find out his/her own investments or those done by one's family members or forefathers. In short, it is a digital tool that will help one to retrieve lost/forgotten investments. Earlier, many could not track such investments and they were lost forever.
How to spot forgotten mutual fund investments
The entire process is online and free of charge. There are a few steps that one has to follow. The Mitra platform can be assessed through the Sebi website or website of MF Central and/or the websites of various mutual fund houses as well as the AMFI website. Investors or nominees or legal heirs can search for their forgotten mutual fund folios here. If a folio has not witnessed any transaction in the past 10 years it will be treated as inactive. However, it will continue to show a balance. The platform will be hosted by CAMS and KFin Technologies. Sebi's cyber security and system audit regulations will ensure safe-keep of the data.
Reason for Mitra launch
One tends to invest in a number of mutual fund schemes. It is possible that one loses track of his/her own investments, especially considering the busy schedule that an individual has these days. It is even more likely that if one's parents or grandparents had made investments in several schemes, some of them have slipped into oblivion. Often with the death of an individual, the investment details are lost to his/her family members/survivours/legal heirs. The new Sebi initiative can enable many to get back those investments, which can bring quite a fortune to many.