SEBI To Allow Investors Buy Mutual Funds Through E-Wallets

In order to make financial products more accessible to consumers, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is planning to utilise digital wallets for the purchase of mutual funds.

SEBI is further said to be in talks with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to frame regulations in order to expand e-wallets’ access to mutual fund investments.

A person close to the development, said, “The norms will make it much easier for any customer to make hassle-free investments in mutual fund schemes through e-wallets. But to avoid chances of money laundering, the new norms will have certain limits on such investments.”

Earlier in June, SEBI also revealed its plans to allow online marketplaces such as Flipkart and Amazon India to sell mutual funds.

Presently, RBI norms allow customers to conduct online transactions of up to INR 10,000 through e-wallets without going through any know-your-customer (KYC) process. However, for transactions more than $154 (INR 10K) and up to $1532 (INR 1 Lakh), e-wallet users are required to fulfill the  KYC process.

Over the past few years, the payments landscape in India has shown some major shifts with digital payments witnessing an exponential growth. According to a recent report by Google and Boston Consulting Group, the digital payments industry in India is projected to reach $500 Bn by 2020, contributing 15% to India’s GDP. The country has various digital wallet players including

Major players in this space include Paytm, Oxigen Services, Mobikwik, FreeCharge, Citrus Pay and more.

Paytm, that tops the chart of digital wallet segment, has plans to hive off its digital wallet and mcommerce into separate apps. Earlier in October last year, digital wallet company FreeCharge owned by Snapdeal had announced that the customers, who register on FreeCharge’s wallet with their Aadhaar authentication, can have their balance limit enhanced from $154 (INR 10K) to $1532 (INR 1 Lakh).

Flipkart too has decided to enter the digital wallet game as it announced to launch a digital wallet soon. It plans to invest over $100 Mn (INR 670 Cr), in the next three years, for the same. Also, Uber is not behind to enter the segment. The cab-hailing app decided to launch its own digital wallet in India, in February. Last year, Tech Mahindra launched a contactless digital payment ecosystem, named MoboMoney, a prepaid wallet issued in the form of an NFC (Near-Field Communication) Contactless Tag.

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