Best Direct Plans in Equity Mutual Funds

Direct mutual fund plans are gaining popularity as many new investors are attracted by its advantages. Mutual Fund schemes, offer two plans- direct plans and regular plans. These are not different scheme, but are a variant of the same principal scheme offered by the fund house. While regular plans have been available to the investors for a long time, the first direct plan came into an option on 1st Jan, 2013. Ideally, an investor who can independently invest in Mutual Funds without seeking the help of an advisor can invest in direct plans. So, here’s a quick guide for the investors who are seeking to invest in Equity Funds by taking the direct plan as an investment option.

All About Equity Mutual Funds

Equity funds are an open-end or closed-end funds that primarily invest in stocks/shares of companies. Equity funds allow investors to buy a basket of stocks more easily than they could purchase the individual securities. When someone invests in these funds, the price that they pay for each unit of the fund is the Net Asset Value (NAV). The net asset value is arrived at by calculating the NAV of the fund minus the liabilities of the fund. The NAV is directly related by the price fluctuations in the stock Market.

Equity Mutual Funds are considered to be an excellent investment for a long-term plan. Though these funds carry a higher-risk, but it is also said that the risk depends on how long you would want to stay invested. Usually, it is suggested to take a SIP route as it tends to lower the risk in the long-run. There are many types of equity funds that are based on different Investing style, market capitalization, and geographical location, let’s have a look.

Equity Funds Categorization as per SEBI Norms

1. Large Cap Funds

These are the funds that predominantly invest in the large-cap stocks. Large cap, by definition, is the 1st to 100th company in terms of full market capitalization. As these funds invest in large-sized companies they tend to give stable returns in the long-run. An investor with a moderate to high risk appetite can invest in this fund.

2. Mid Cap Fund

This is a scheme that mainly invests in mid-cap stocks. As per definition, these are the 101st to 250th company in terms of full market capitalization. mid cap funds invest the most emerging companies in India, as a result, if performed well, they can be the future leaders of the market. But, the risk in mid-caps are higher than that of large-caps. That is why, an investor with a good risk ability who can invest for a long-time is suggested to invest in this fund.

3. Large and Mid Cap Fund

These are the schemes that invest in both large & mid cap stocks. These funds will invest a minimum of 35 percent each in mid and large cap stocks.

4. Small Cap Fund

These funds take the exposure at the lowest end of market capitalization- the 251st company onwards in terms of full market capitalization. Small-cap companies include the startups or firms that are in their early stage of development with small revenues. These funds have a great potential to discover the value and can generate good returns. However, the risks are very high.

5. Multi Cap or Diversified Fund

This equity scheme invests across the market cap, i.e., large cap, mid cap, and small cap. As this fund invests across the market cap, the risk of investing in just one market cap gets eliminated. This fund also provides good diversification to the Portfolio. But, being an equity fund, the risk still remains.

6. ELSS

Equity Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) is a tax saving fund that comes with a lock-in period of three years. A minimum of 80 percent of its total assets has to be invested in equities.

7. Dividend Yield Fund

This fund will predominantly invest in dividend yielding stocks. The fund manager of the Dividend Yield fund tends to invest in companies that have constant cash flows and are in a position to pay dividend regularly and at a stable rate. During a downturn, such companies don’t usually reduce its dividend. Therefore, such investments make the funds less volatile compared with their growth-oriented peers. The Volatility of these funds, on an average, is lower than both large-cap and multi-cap funds.

8. Value Fund

This is an equity fund that will follow the value investment strategy. These funds invest in those companies that have fallen out of favour at that moment, but have good principles. The idea behind this is to select a stock that appears to be underpriced by the market, but can to deliver healthy returns over the long-term

9. Contra Fund

contra funds take a contrarian view on equities. The fund manager picks underperforming stocks at that point in time, which are likely to perform well in the long run, at cheap valuations.

10. Focused Fund

This fund will focus on large, mid, small or multi-cap stocks, but can have a maximum of 30 stocks. These funds are allocated their holdings between a limited number of carefully researched securities.

11. Sector/Thematic Fund

These are the funds that invest in a particular sector or a theme. A sector fund is an equity scheme that invests in shares of companies that trade in a particular sector or Industry like, for instance, a pharma fund would invest only in pharmaceutical companies. thematic funds can be across a wider sector than just keep a very narrow focus, for example, media and entertainment. Thematic fund can invest in various companies across publishing, online, media or broadcasting.

Why Direct Mutual Fund Plans are Gaining Popularity?

One of the main reasons why direct plans look attractive is due to its lower expense ratio. As compared to a regular plan, the expense ratio in the direct mutual plan is lower. The lower expense ratio results from the fact that direct mutual funds don’t incur any agent commissions or distributor fees that are payable to brokers or distribution agents of the regular mutual fund plans. This brings to a result that the potential returns delivered by direct plans tend to be higher than regular plans.

The other reason is that the Net Asset Value (NAV) of direct plans are relatively higher than the regular plan's NAV. In a mutual fund investment, the value of the investment is expressed as the fund’s AUM (Asset Under Management). As direct plans have a lower expense ratio, the saving in commissions is added to the return of the scheme in for of a higher NAV each day. This compatibility results in a higher NAV of a direct plan.

Best Equity Mutual Funds Direct Plans