Indian Mutual Funds - Insights

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. Executive Summary
I am the sobered, battered and problem-straddled 35 year-old cousin of my glitzy, glamorous, strong-willed, investor-savvy and popular US counterpart. Why am I viewed with suspicion, frowned upon and treated with contempt by the retail investors who are the very reason for my existence? I am still trying to convince people that I am not guilty of eroding their wealth. Even the stoniest of hearts, I am sure, will melt listening to my turbulent tale.
I, the Mutual Fund industry in India, came to Planet Earth, with the setting up of the Unit Trust of India (UTI) in 1964 by the Government of India. Like all other Mutual Funds globally, the goals set for me were similar: money from retail collective investments was pooled together with the intention of investing it in a range of securities and debt instruments. The profits and income were to be shared proportionately by the investors who had invested with the Funds.
UTI, a non-profit organisation, grew to be a dominant player in the Indian financial services industry with assets of over Rs. 72,000 crore as of March 31, 1998. This respectfully- treated organisation, created a nervous panic among its followers, as it hit the headlines of all economic dailies in October '98 for all the wrong reasons. But, more about that later.
My phoren wealthy counterpart in the US, born in 1920 and is today worth more than US $ 4 trillion, and is fawned upon by householders in America.
Back in India, as I was still teething, in 1987, commercial banks and insurance companies were permitted to launch schemes. The schemes were sacrosanct cows, next only to gold and bank deposits. I collectively garnered over Rs. 6,000 crore and was received well, as many of the schemes went ahead offering assured returns with lucrative tax saving baits thrown in.
After all, am I to blame for this gilded image?