Investment In Units of Mutual Funds in the Name of Minor Through Guardian and Ease of Process for Transmission of Units

[Sandeep Golani]

Investment In Units of Mutual Funds in the Name of Minor Through Guardian and Ease of Process for Transmission of Units

The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) vide its circular dated December 24, 2019 has issued the guidelines for ‘Investment in units of Mutual Funds in the name of minor through guardian and ease of process for transmission of units’.

In order to bring about uniform processes across Asset Management Companies (AMCs) in respect of investments made in the name of a minor through a guardian and to enable efficient transmission of units the following has been decided:

Firstly, the process for such investment by a guardian has been defined. The same includes payment mechanism for such investment, KYC requirements by minor on attaining 18 years of age, building of a system control by the AMCs based on which the standing instruction will be suspended when the minor attains majority.

Secondly, the circular mentions about the process for transmission of units. AMCs are provided with the responsibilities to implement image-based processing, to have a Central Help Desk and a web page, to adopt a common transmission request form and NOC form, provide for the common set of required documents, etc. It can be deciphered that this step of SEBI will bring better regulation in respect of the investment made by minors.