The Hindu Business Line : Beep! Beep! It's your NAV

EVER been stuck without time to call your investment advisor or surf the Net to find the net asset value (NAV) on your mutual funds? Now, all it takes are a few keystrokes on your mobile phone.

Mutual fund houses have realised the potential of the mobile phones and have started offering investors, facilities of checking NAVs and resolving basic service requests through short messaging service (SMS).

UTI Mutual Fund has launched UTI MF@SMS, an initiative that allows investors to avail NAV figures on their mobile phones. The initiative, now in its third week, draws about 1,000 SMS messages daily, according to Mr Prem Kumar, Vice President, UTI MF.

Asset management companies (AMCs) agree that the key to optimising the SMS tool is in quickly migrating mechanised functions from the customer service centres to mobile phones. Fund houses say that the maximum volume of phone calls handled by their call centres and branch offices are enquiries on NAVs, dividends, bonuses and rights issues. This initiative is expected to shave off a substantial amount on the infrastructure and staffing required in answering these basic queries.

"This beats the call-in concept, hands down. Even if all you want to know is the asset value, you would have to spend about three minutes listening to a recorded voice choosing the right options. Here, I can even save the SMS on my outbox and send it at the start of every day," said an advisor for a distribution house.

In the next phase, this initiative would confirm to investors' completion of requests registered — change of address, completion of switching requests between funds, confirmation of receipts etc.

AMCs have been using the mobile route to stay in touch with distributors and advisors, as well. ING Vysya Mutual Fund sends market updates with BSE and NSE indices value on a daily basis primarily to the distribution channel. "This is an opt in service. We do not see the NAV figures to investors as a mission critical function, except perhaps for exchange traded funds," said Mr Sushil Sharma, Chief Marketing Officer, ING Vysya Mutual Fund.

While the SMS initiative scores high on the convenience factor, this could add to the users' woes of spam. "Privacy protection and control of database is still a long way in India. Even today there are Web sites that sell you all the data from banks, distributors and even clubs," said Mr Sharma.

So the next time your phone beeps, it could be bringing good news about the appreciation of your investment. But be aware, it could also be your local barbershop offering summer discounts!

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Beep! Beep! It's your NAV