Traffic data released for March 2011 by ViziSense shows that the website for UTI Mutual funds is the most visited website in the vertical, followed by Reliance and HDFC. The data was revealed in a study by the ViziSense Research Desk, to gain insights into online user’s adoption of mutual funds as a category online, especially after the removal of the entry load in August 2009, which made it a compelling reason for mutual fund companies to reach out directly to retail investors.
ViziSense observed the specific online behaviour of a select 5,000 users from its panel of 125,000 on both financial websites as well as mutual fund company websites, across the last financial year April 2010-March 2011.
Moneycontrol leads the list of financial sites, where almost 3 lakh users in March 2011 sought information around mutual funds, followed by ‘Rediff Money’ and ‘AMFI INDIA’. The size of the category online is almost 13 lakh users or 2 per cent of the online population.
Amit Bhartiya, GM, ViziSense said, “The Indian mutual fund industry has seen low penetration from retail investors. With over 50 per cent of online users above the age of 25 and with annual household income of over Rs 5 lakh for almost 25 per cent of the users, we believe that the online population is a great target fit for Mutual Funds. The aim of the study was to measure the size and interest of users around this category and while, a penetration of 2 per cent of users, shows great online interest within this category, it also holds tremendous potential for mutual fund companies to do more with this medium.”