Top 10 Best Platforms to invest in Direct Mutual Funds Online

Top 10 Best Platforms to invest in Direct Plans of Mutual FundsTop 10 Best Platforms to invest in Direct Mutual Funds Online


There are two ways of investing in mutual funds, one through mediators/banks and other through investing in direct plans which is done directly through AMC websites. One of the best way to get higher returns from mutual funds is to invest through Direct Plans of Mutual Funds. However, investing in direct plans of mutual funds would be little tedious process till few years back as one has to go through the AMC website and do KYC process etc., Now there are several best platforms where one can invest in direct plans of mutual funds without even going to AMC websites. In this article, we would detail about Top 10 Best Platforms on one can invest in direct plans of mutual funds.

Also Read: Motilal Oswal Target Investment Plan of Mutual Funds – How does it work exactly?

What are Direct Plan in Mutual fund Schemes?


In mutual fund scheme, direct plan refers to those in which Asset Management Company (AMC) or mutual fund houses do not charge any fees, distribution expenses or transaction charges. The NAV of such funds are higher than normal mutual funds. The scheme would denote “direct” in its description at the end of such direct plans. e.g. “Aditya Birla Sunlife Frontline Equity Fund – Direct Plan”. It is good for those investors who can manage the paper formalities on their own and want to increase their returns by reducing the expenses ratio. There would be separate NAV for direct plans.

Difference between Direct Plans Vs Regular Plans in Mutual Funds


There are certain differences in direct plans against the regular plans of mutual funds.

Fund Returns: Direct plans in mutual funds do not charge any transaction or brokerage fees. So, the returns are higher as compared to regular plans. The returns would be higher around 0.5% to 1.5% per annum depending upon the expense ratio. 

Documentation: Investing in mutual funds involve a lot of documentation like submission of application, tracking, portfolio consolidation, nominee inclusion, KYC compliance etc. in regular plans, all these things are taken care by the broker or intermediary but in case of direct plans, all the formalities have to be complied by the investor only. This may create a bit of work.

Mutual Fund Recommendations: In direct plans, the investors need to analyze the funds on their own and select top performing funds. This requires a lot of research on the part of investors while in regular plans, all these things are managed by the agents of AMC. 

Trace records: In direct plans, it is difficult to trace the investment records if forgotten to be claimed. The records are not kept centralized and it is difficult to remember all the records if invested in different funds whereas the records can be kept at one place if invested through broker.

Top 10 Best Platforms to invest in Direct Mutual Funds Online


There are a few platforms available in India that facilitates the investors to invest directly i.e. in mutual fund direct plans. All direct plan investment platforms have different business models. Some charge a flat rate, while some charge on per transaction basis. Here are the best platforms to invest in direct plans of mutual funds.

1) Investing directly through AMC Websites for direct plans in mutual funds


All the asset management companies have their portals. Go to the online portal whose mutual fund you want to invest. Create a portfolio there. Fill all the details in application form and select the option of ‘Direct’ in mode of investment. It does not charge any fees. You need to log in to each AMC for investing in mutual fund schemes pertaining to them.

2) Investing through MF Utility – Mutual Funds Direct plans


In India, MF Utility is a shared infrastructure of all AMCs to provide online investment facility. MFU is funded by the mutual fund houses only. The website for this is www.mfuindia.com. One can register for common account number (CAN) here. This is a unique number to trace all the investments made in different AMC through MF Utility platform. These too do not charge any fees.

3) Karvy Platform – Direct plan of mutual funds


It acts as online middlemen between you and mutual fund companies for keeping records and processing of different procedures. They offer services for few selected mutual fund companies only. The portfolio built through Karvy can be viewed at a single place.

4) MyCams – Invest in direct plans of mutual funds


Cams provides mutual fund investments through their  platform where you can invest in direct mutual funds too. However CAMS provides only services for mutual funds under 15 AMCs only. The facility is free and you can get consolidated statement online across the mutual fund schemes you may invest in these 15 fund houses.

5) Moneyfront Platform – Investing in mutualfund direct plans


It is another online portal that offers many services to the investors along with online SIP investment. It facilitates to analyze the savings for direct plans vs. regular plans.

6) Investing through Zerodha Coin


It is a platform that lets you buy mutual funds online at very low cost. One can invest Rs 25,000 for no cost and thereafter it offers the rate of as low as Rs 50 per month.

7) Bharosa Advisor – Investing in direct plan of mutual funds


Bharosa Advisor is a SEBI Registered Investment Advisor. It offers un-biased and quality advice that helps investors to create more wealth without paying commission of any kind.

8) Clear funds – Mutual Fund direct plans


Clear funds enables investors to invest in direct mutual funds with precise analysis made through statistical algorithm. They have partnered with leading analytical companies to provide in depth analysis on every mutual fund. A flat rate of Rs 200 is charged for every mutual fund scheme bought.

9) Expowealth – Direct Plans of Mutual Funds


Expo wealth offers three categories for online investments. First is free and the basic plan which has few direct schemes. Second is Rs 149 per transaction I which one can buy from over 600 direct mutual schemes. Third is premium plan in which it charges Rs 149 per month with unlimited lump sum and SIP transactions.

Also Read: Which are the best Mutual Funds to invest in 2018?

10) Kuvera – Investment in direct plans of mutual funds


It is registered with SEBI as an investment advisor. It offers a great selection of fund houses to select from. It do not charge any fees.

Bonus Tip – Invezta Platform – Mutual Funds Direct plans


It is a big online platform that helps investors to invest in direct schemes of all AMCs with sophisticated advice.  A minimal fee of Rs 79 p.m. or Rs. 109 p.m. charged for the services provided.

Conclusion: It is good to see that awareness about direct plans is increasing. Many websites and portals are encouraging investors about investing directly in mutual funds. Investing in direct and regular mutual fund schemes has its own pros and cons. So, the investor needs to be cautious and take decisions as per their own needs.  Direct plan portals may have poor marketing skills as compared to regular plan because they are budget constraints.

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Suresh

Top 10 Best Platforms to invest in Direct Mutual Funds Online

Suresh KP

47 comments

  1. Kindly intimate paisabazaar.com is chargeable for direct mutual funds or not. Also intimate paisabazaar.com authentic or not for direct mutual funds

    1. Why no one is telling about paisabazar.com, they are also offering direct mutual funds without any cost.

  2. Moneyfront platform is not free they are charging 1200/year. I just started using kuvera based on unbiased opinion of Gagan (kuddos) . I got invite by their COO through email, will try unovest as well.

    if anyone is using clearfunds please share feedback.

    thanks !

  3. Thanks for this post. I have tried following portals in last few months and explored the free version / features only. Unovest is missing here.

    Sharing my experiences :

    1) WealthTrust – in free model, you can only review investment via CAMS statement over their app. OK to use on the move and see how the movement is etc etc. They have option to get CAMs statement generated one click and delivered to our from wherein have to just forward and it gets updated over app. This features works quite well.

    I use it on my Android phone for on the move review.

    2) Piggy – in free model, you can only review investment via CAMS statement over their app. They too have feature like getting CAS over one click… For me that never worked. The app is Okay at best and not worth efforts. 

    I have uninstalled it !

    3) BharosClub / Invetza – logged in and found they don't offer any service for free users like me. So never logged again

    4) OroWealth – in their current free model, you can go and use options (though under heading of Premium Tools) like Portfolio Health Checkup, Top Picks etc.

    I have extensively used their Portfolio Health Check for last 1 year or so. Herein you can upload CAMS statements and analyse returns at many levels like XIRR, year wise returns, no. of units free of exit load, direct & regular folios, investment distribution into type of funds / sectors etc etc. These reports can be downloaded as excel. In past they had capital gain option too (if I remember correctly) which seems to be missing now.  

    I use their Portfolio Health Checkup regularly. 

    5) Kuvera – got invite from one of the founders via Quora and using it for last 1 month or so. They use Karvy CAS upload and once done you can use same folios for further investment via BSE Star backend. They are promising site as they offer free of cost invesment into direct funds. For lumpsum you can start rightaway. To invest via SIP etc you need to register Bank Mandate and can start. For STP you need to initiate via email as they set it from backend. Their email support is quite good and fast and they are receptive of ideas.

    But they need to do lot of work on their data analytics like XIRR Returns year wise, Realized Capital Gains, Investment distribution analysis etc and provide options for reports export as excel. Going to give feedback detailed feedback to them over email later.

    It looks very promising and am using it for my dad's investment management. I can invite if someone wants to try ๐Ÿ™‚

    6) Unovest – have been a user for past 1 year or so and had been using only for Portfolio Analysis. Just learnt last week that it has allows transactionsand that too free of cost. It uses MFU platform and once your CAN details are verified by them can start investing. I uploaded latest CAMS CAS, mapped my Folios with CAN and did a transaction today and it was breeze. The Portfolio Analysis, the feature for which I started using Unovest, is quite good. It offers capital gain / loss, gives summary, investment distribution into type of funds / sectors etc etc. The website is slow sometimes. And also Vipin – the founder seems quite active and shares useful information / DIY stuff. 

    It looks very promising and along with Kuvera on my radar. Since I do most of my transactions through MFU, will be using Unovest more and more. I am sure Vipin will continue to bring enchacements.

    Regards
    Gagan P

    1. I have started sip few months back. Now I would like to start a new sip through direct plans so can u plz share kuvera invite if possible or should I use any other online platform. Please suggest.

      1. I am currently using Zerodha Coin but not happy with their charges and reports and planning to switch . Can you share your Kuvera invite .

    2. Hi Gagan,
      MyCAMS has the feature of seeing the investments made in the past through other platforms.. Does Kuvera also has this option?

      1. HI Bharat,

        One thing we need to be clear is that MyCAMS is from CAMS which is also RTA and so they have access to nearly all details even without our consent.

        At Kuvera, we can too see our past investments, but only after we have uploaded CAS generated from Karvy on Kuvera.

        Further few weeks back, Kuvera came with an innovative idea, to auto-generate CAS statement regularly post our confirmation and sent to email ID. Then one can forward to them / set auto rule. This way, even if one continues to have some investment outside Kuvera (say on-going SIP etc), it will get captured too.

        Personally found myCAMS of limited use. Even MFU is much better.

        Suggest giving Kuvera a try and then decide. 

         

  4. I want to invest in regular funds and direct funds with low fee charges.I will be investing 10k per month.Which one u suggest among these 10  best platforms

    1. Investing in mf requires to weigh the risk taking the capacity of investor . If you are young than you can think of investing in pure equity funds. If you are above thirty invest 50 % in equity funds and balance in balanced and liquid funds. if you are above 55 years invest 40 % in balanced funds and remaining in liquid/ bond/other money market instruments. Better take the services of a professional mf distributer.

    2. Hi,

      Pls refer my post above for my experience with few of these portals.

      Why would you invest in both Regular & Direct Plans?

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