The Hindu Business Line : AMFI notifies `certified' distributors list

DISTRIBUTION of mutual funds has attracted the who's who of the financial world, according to the latest data put out by the Association of Mutual Funds in India.

The list of corporate distributors drawn up by AMFI indicates the presence of leading banks such as SBI and HSBC, investment specialists such as DSP Merrill Lynch and JM Morgan Stanley and stockbrokers like Kotak Securities and Anand Rathi Securities. Predictably, a motley crowd of financial consultants is also in the fray.

By far the most significant group of distributors - officially known as `AMFI Registered Mutual Fund Advisors' - is made up of players in the banking sector. These range from new generation banks (ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank and IDBI Bank) to foreign outfits (Citibank and BNP Paribas) to emerging names like Development Credit Bank.

In a few instances, the players concerned are promoted by groups that also have their own asset management arms. These include Birla Sun Life Distribution, Investsmart India and Sahara India Financial Corporation.

There are odd names such as Stock Holding Corporation of India Ltd, which is principally known for its depository and custodial services, as well as certain companies promoted by select business houses like ITC and L&T. The latter are represented respectively by Russell Credit and L&T Capital Co.

The AMFI list also points towards the serious gap that exists between Mumbai and the rest of India in terms of concentration of distributors. While Mumbai has as many as 74 registered advisors, Kolkata (which comes next) has only 20. The other metros - Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore - have four, nine and 16 players in that order.

Mutual fund sources indicate that the list of advisors will grow as new companies decide to enter the business of distribution. The growth, it is felt, will not be restricted to the big cities alone. A city like Kolkata has nevertheless thrown up an interesting set already, comprising brokers like Dalmia Securities, SKP Securities and Ashika Stock Broking.

It also has such emerging names as Bees Network and Z Financial. Bangalore has Way2Wealth Securities, ICDS Securities and Weizman Infin Services.