'The size of passive funds has grown 36 per cent in a year'

Parija explains how mutual funds have gained traction

How has online access to mutual funds impacted the interaction between investors and your business? Looking ahead over the next decade, how do you expect this to evolve? 

The pandemic accelerated digitisation in the financial services industry, leading to a paradigm shift in how we interact with our investors now. We were able to ride this wave of change with our differentiated digital communication capabilities. As digital adoption skyrocketed, we realised investors were also consuming educational and informational content more than ever.

This investor behaviour was the opportunity we rode on to drive engagement and mindshare among investors, because mindshare drives wallet share and hence business. Over the next few years, the winning entity would be one that creates personalised content for an investor and ensures it is delivered on their preferred channel.

How have the above changes impacted distributors of different sizes and types? 

Firstly, to be fair, many partners had already moved to digital platforms prior to the lockdown. However, the event accelerated the change for those using hybrid models also to go digital. As of date, a lot of distributors across segments, sizes, and geographies we work with have gone entirely digital, thanks to the ease of online transactions and the multitude of platforms.

While sales interactions and onboarding are being followed in a hybrid model, transactional interactions have pretty much moved digital. UPI, online banking, and payment gateways aided by WhatsApp have been the most significant enablers in this case.

What role do you see the emergent ‘fintech’ sector play?