LEARNING MODULES FOR TRAINING MUTUAL FUND TO INVESTORS

Financial Education is an essential life skill and is a specialization module in adult education and training. Within the financial education domain, a sub-module would be on financial instruments, such as Mutual Funds. Mutual Funds are small retail investor-friendly investment tools. They are increasingly getting investor interest worldwide because they can provide potential solutions for short- and long-term investing. However, like any other financial/investing topic, teaching mutual fund concepts is challenging because of its unique vocabulary, jargon, and investment processes. The paper highlights broad modules that can be part of a typical mutual fund curriculum. Pedagogical Action Research is used to build the teaching modules focusing on narrativity, pupil's agency, curriculum development, practical theories, and ethics. Findings from this work can help teachers and trainers in the financial domain, mutual fund distributors, asset management companies, and the capital market regulators in building financial products that are easier to understand and invest in by small retail investors

Should Islamic Banking & Financial Institutions go with General Data Protection Regulation Compliance?

The new European Union (EU) data protection law - General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)that is enforceable on all entities, within and outside the territory of European Union requires that follow entities dealing with private data of EU individuals should follow due procedures in regard to safe data handling and storage. This regulation is forcing all countries globally, including those in the Islamic countries to take special precautions. Islamic banks and financial institutions are key intermediaries fostering smooth foreign trade between Islamic and European countries. Lack of sufficiently strong data protection legislation in most of the Islamic countries is hampering conformity with GDPR. This leads to non-compliance and thereby paves way to heavy monetary penalties in the short-run and hurts business prospects with the European counties in the long-run, both of which are detrimental. This paper helps institutions in building frameworksby taking them through a series of compliance checks, build teamsto enforce standards, make knowledge repositories and to undertake necessary technical measures. Findings from this study can help Islamic companies in general and Islamic Banking Financial institutions in particular in meeting GDPR compliance.Finally, this paper makes some key recommendations to the Governments, Regulators, Financial Institutions, Organizations and Individuals so that they can become GDPR complaint

IMPACT OF MENTAL HEALTH AND WELL-BEING OF INDIAN STOCK MARKET TRADERS

Stock market traders can be successful by picking the right financial security/instrument to invest/trade and then prepare and executing the trading plan. However, the success rate from doing so is only partly. The other part of success, which, unfortunately, is mostly ignored, comes from emotional and behavioral balance and control. Research already proved the connections between emotions and the mental health of individuals. Objectives: This paper explores the mental health aspects of a typical Indian stock market trader. Design: A self-constructed questionnaire is administered on a sample of 250 where 140 respondents were taken for the study on four dimensions-general trading stress profile, general mental and health profile, general lifestyle profile, and general financial status profile. Method: Data thus collected is statistically measured and tested using Chi-square, Pearson correlation, and simple linear regression. The research finds that age and marital status influence the stock market trader experience along with the highest, moderate, and lowest areas where the trader is affected on the above-mentioned dimensions. Findings from this research can help traders in bettering their mental health and thereby improve their trading outcomes

Variables Impacting Mutual Fund Expense Ratio: The Indian Midcap Mutual Fund Experience

With an increase in the number of fund houses entering the asset management business, the Indian Mutual Fund Industry has turned into a competitive marketplace. An increase in the number of schemes translates to increased choice (and confusion) for investors, while for fund managers, it means more pressure to beat the benchmark indices. Correlation research method is used on scheme variables such as Assets Under Management (AUM), Expense Ratio, and the Monthly Returns of select Indian Midcap Schemes for the period January 2016 to 2021 to determine the statistical relationships between the variables. Three schemes from amongst the midcap schemes, after putting them into clusters, are picked for this study. Findings from this research can help fund managers, and Asset Management Companies (AMCs) better manage their schemes by tweaking expenses and further maximizing investor returns

Sovereign green bonds as an unconventional tool to address climate change

Creative efforts are necessary as global efforts seek to undertake projects focused on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives. Among various financial products that provide funding for projects, green bonds, particularly sovereign green bonds (SGB or SGrB) issued with sovereign guarantees by central governments, have gained prominence. Proceeds from SGBs are used to finance green projects such as non-conventional and renewable energy projects, alternative energy solutions, greenhouse gas emission reduction, climate change mitigation, or reduced use of carbon-based energy sources. SGB will receive increasing global attention as governments attempt to meet UN climate change goals. This research uses descriptive research methodology to examine the evolution, operational aspects, challenges, and investor expectations associated with SGrBs by taking India as a case. The study period is taken from 2016 to 2023. It used a conceptual approach to discuss the market's evolution. The findings highlight how SGBs provide an unconventional way to link green finance with ecological priorities by combining fiscal policy, investment and science-based solutions. The insights are intended to inform future SGB frameworks and strategies to target funded green growth towards pressing global sustainability issues

Lessons to the Banking Industry During COVID-19 Crisis

Sun Tzu, in his Chinese military treatise - The Art of War, said: "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles." The financial state of any nation needs to be strong and healthy to the point that it can face any unseen economic disturbances. Both developed and developing economies have seen several unpredictable situations arising out of natural calamities, but COVID-19 has shaken the entire global economy proving that no country is immune enough

Foreign Portfolio Investors & Mutual Funds: A Study on firm characteristics with reference to select Indian IT Companies

The influence of institutional investors on the Indian capital markets is getting stronger year on year. This is inline with the increasing of capital inflows into the country via the Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) route on one hand and increased investments by domestic investors into the capital markets via the Mutual Funds. This paper attempts to empirically ascertain their influence on select Indian companies from the Information Technology (IT) sector with reference to firm characteristics such as Earnings Per Share (EPS), Net Profit (NP) etc. Regression Equation for each of the companies is built. Findings from study can help investors in making better investment decisions

Corporate Governance in India: A 2021 Literature Review

A literature review on the theme of Corporate Governance in India is undertaken in which 29 research papers published in the year 2021 are taken from various research databases and studied. The papers included domestic and international authors but were specific to India. The literature review being undertaken helped identify and study the broad themes surrounding the area of corporate governance. The themes identified from this research are Comparative studies, particularly regarding return on assets (RoA), Corporate Governance in the context of Banking, particularly in Public vs. Private sector banks, E-Governance practices (particularly in healthcare), stock market implications, disclosure practices, and impact of regulations. The identified themes can help various stakeholders in corporate governance practices, such as researchers, company boards, governmental agencies, and regulators, strengthen their frameworks

Indian Mutual Funds in the Times of COVID-19

The start of 2020 appears to be a double whammy for mutual funds. First, there is the COVID-19 pandemic, and then there is a sudden drop in international crude oil prices. Panic in global markets ensued these events. A series of measures were taken by the Indian capital market regulator SEBI and the mutual fund industry body AMFI to protect and safeguard the investors and the mutual fund industry. Understanding market trends, particularly during periods of crisis, is a necessary trait for academic researchers, capital market enthusiasts, distributors, and those seeking a career in the asset management industry

Learning and Investing During COVID-19 Crisis: A Behavioral Finance Perspective

Pandemics of the nature and scale of COVID-19 remind investors of the importance of asset classes and efficient financial planning. Financial management is a critical element in our management curriculum. Catching up with advancements, university management programs have gone deeper from core financial management into specialized areas such as Financial Engineering and Behavioural Finance. This chapter familiarizes students on an emerging subject - Behavioral Finance - that combines concepts from psychology, finance, and sociology. This discipline helps to understand the complex investor behavior, notably the irrational behavior exhibited that causes irregularity in the financial markets. This chapter focuses on investor behaviour during the COVID-19 crisis and suggests ways to reduce the influence of negative emotion while participating in secondary markets