The capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI)<\/a>, in order to facilitate enhanced transparency, make it easy to understand for investors, and standardise the approach towards disclosures by mutual funds, last week on September 27, 2024, released a consultation paper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In it certain changes have been proposed that shall help you, the investors make an informed investment decision. Here’s what the regulator has proposed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disclosure of Expenses, Expense Ratio, Returns of Regular Plan and Direct Plan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mutual funds, as you may know, are required [under Regulation 59 of SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996] to make half-yearly disclosure of unaudited financial results, which among others include recurring expenses, expense ratios<\/a>, returns and compounded annualised yield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At present, this is mandatory for the Regular Plan of mutual fund schemes. But considering that the expense ratio of the Regular Plan and Direct Plan<\/a> is different, the regulator has proposed that the expenses and the expense ratio of the Direct Plan also be disclosed in standard format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Notably, mutual fund distributors usually suggest to investors the type of schemes they should consider investing in and often provide a Regular Plan as the default option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Similarly, there are some investors who seek the services of an investment advisor, who are allowed to recommend only Direct Plan of mutual fund schemes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Likewise, some investors prefer to invest directly with the fund houses or through online platforms offering Direct Plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n [Read: 5 Best Active Equity Mutual Funds with Low Expense Ratio And High Returns<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n You see, the difference in the expense ratio of the Direct plan and Regular plan of diversified equity mutual funds ranges from 0.4% to 2%, with an average difference of about 1.2%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now while a marginal difference may not seem much at the outset, over the longer investment horizon, it does make a difference in the corpus you can build — thanks to the power of compounding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Table 1: Difference in Expense Ratio and Impact on Your Wealth<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n