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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by CrazyKaps (talk | contribs) at 10:01, 9 September 2015 (- Corrected founder's name's spelling. Updated with latest address, products, and awards. Added reference for directors. Fixed old citation. Updated image.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

FundsIndia
File:FI logo.png
Websitewww.fundsindia.com
PromoterWealth India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.[1]
FoundersCR Chandrasekar and Srikanth Meenakshi[2]
DirectorsCR Chandrasekar, Srikanth Meenakshi, Parag Dhol, Ashu Garg, Sameer Shroff, Aditya Parekh[3][4][5]
ProductsMutual funds, equities, corporate deposits, bonds, NPS, IPOs and NCDs
ServicesAdvisory services, different types of SIPs, ready-to-go portfolios, Robo-advisory services (Smart Solutions, New India Portfolio), trigger-based investing, portfolio x-ray, Value-averaging Investment Plans (VIPs), e-insurance repository, and other financial services
Physical OfficeUttam Building, Third Floor, No. 38 & 39, Whites Road, Royapettah, Chennai – 600 014

FundsIndia (est. 2009) is an online investment website headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.[6][7] The website is a service of Wealth India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd.[1] It was initially created just for mutual funds but later introduced other investment products like stocks, corporate fixed deposits, bonds, and the National Pension Scheme (NPS).[8] FundsIndia was founded by C.R. Chandrasekar and Srikanth Meenakshi,[2] alumnus of the University of Hyderabad.[9]

History

Chandrasekar and Srikanth, were hostel mates while pursuing their Masters in Computer Applications (MCA) at the University of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, in 1990. After they completed their post-graduation there, they both moved to the United States of America to pursue their postgraduate degree in Computer Science. Chandrasekar pursued his Masters at the Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia, while Srikanth studied at the Oregon Graduate Institute in Portland, Oregon. They both began working in a variety of high profile jobs in the field of financial services and after over a decade, they decided to return to India in order to stay closer to their respective families.[9] Eventually, they decided to launch an online mutual fund investment website together after realizing that most platforms in the country only offered access to investments in equities online.[10] Hence, FundsIndia was launched in 16 June 2009.[1][6]

Srikanth Meenakshi (left), co-founder and COO, FundsIndia, and CR Chandrasekar(right), co-founder and CEO, FundsIndia

Initially, Chandrasekar and Srikanth pooled in their savings of about Rs. 1.5 crore in order to launch FundsIndia in 2009.[9] In 2010, the company found that they required additional funding to fuel their growth and hence, they approached the venture capital firm, Inventus Capital Partners. However, the company was asked to approach them for funding at a later date, once it had shown a good performance record. Within nine months, FundsIndia was successful in acquiring several customers and earning higher revenues. Impressed by their performance, Inventus Capital Partners invested Rs. 3 crore in the firm.[11] This was FundsIndia’s Series A round of funding that was used to expand their customer base and introduce new products and services. After this, Parag Dhol, the Managing Director of Inventus Capital Partners assumed the post of Director in FundsIndia’s management.[3] In July 2012, the company raised an amount of Rs. 20 crore in its Series B round of funding that was led by the Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm, Foundation Capital. Inventus Capital Partners also participated in this round of funding. After this round of investment, Ashu Garg, General Partner, Foundation Capital, also assumed a post as Director at FundsIndia.[4] In June 2015, the company further raised an amount of Rs. 70 crore in its Series C round of funding. This round of funding was led by the venture capital firm, Faering Capital, with follow-on investments from current investors, Foundation Capital, and Inventus Capital Partners.[12] After this round of investment, both Sameer Shroff and Aditya Parekh, co-founders and Managing Directors, Faering Capital, assumed a post each as Director at FundsIndia.[13][14]

Products and services

Products offered include mutual funds in India,[6] equities from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), corporate fixed deposits and bonds, and other products. FundsIndia was the first platform in India to offer Government-promoted NPS in a fully online-enabled environment.[15]

As some examples of a few of its services, FundsIndia was the first to launch trigger-based investing across all mutual funds in India. Using this service, investors set triggers to their investments based on different criteria like the performance of the SENSEX, the net asset value (NAV) of a particular fund, returns generated by his/her portfolio, and so on.[16] It was also the first financial services platform in India to offer a Value-averaging Investment Plan (VIP).[17] Using VIP, investors can invest more when the markets are low, and less when the markets are high.[18] FundsIndia offers different kinds of Systematic Investment Plans like Step-up SIPs, Alert SIPs, Portfolio SIPs and SIPs on exchange-traded funds (ETFs).[19] The platform was the first to launch Flexi SIPs in India, which enable investors to alter their investment levels depending on their financial situation.[20] FundsIndia pioneered robo-advisory services in India with its Smart Solutions and New India Portfolio products.[21][22] The platform also offers ready-made 'ready-to-go portfolios' tailored according to the investors’ investment time frames, or life stages.[21] It also allows its users to generate their CIBIL credit reports using their FundsIndia account.[23]

Recognition

  • Srikanth Meenakshi (centre), co-founder and COO, FundsIndia.com, receives ‘The ET Promising Brand Award’ in financial services from Soha Ali Khan, actress, and Deepak Lamba, President, TCL – BCCL.
    Srikanth Meenakshi (centre), co-founder and COO, FundsIndia.com, receives ‘The ET Promising Brand Award’ in financial services from Soha Ali Khan, actress, and Deepak Lamba, President, TCL – BCCL.
  • CR Chandrasekar, co-founder and CEO, FundsIndia.com, receives the award for 'National Online Advisory Service' at the Financial Advisor Awards.
    CR Chandrasekar, co-founder and CEO, FundsIndia.com, receives the award for 'National Online Advisory Service' at the Financial Advisor Awards.

FundsIndia won the National Online Advisory Service Award at the CNBC-TV18 - UTI Financial Advisor Awards for two years in a row, for the years 2013-2014, and 2014-2015.[24][25] The platform received the award for spearheading the financial advisory movement online with their unique services and features. The winner was chosen by a jury of financial experts on the basis of customer feedback, quality of service, online viability, organizational growth, quality of online advisory services, and several such factors.[26]

FundsIndia was also awarded Promising Brand of the Year 2015 in the Financial Services category at The Economic Times Best Promising Brands Summit held in Mumbai, Maharashtra, on March 26, 2015.[27]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Wealth India launches online investment platform". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 17 June 2009. Retrieved 24 September 2013. The Chennai-based Wealth India Financial Services launched its online value-added financial services platform, www.fundsindia. com. Addressing press-persons here on Tuesday C. R. Chandrasekar and Srikanth Meenakshi, directors, said fundsindia.com was an investment platform for the long-term investment needs of common investors. It would focus exclusively on the medium-long-term financial goals of retail investors. The company invested Rs. 75 lakh in creating this new platform and expected to rope in 70,000 customers in the next 1-2 years. To begin with it would offer the entire range of mutual funds.
  2. ^ a b Gajjar, Paritosh (31 July 2012). "FundsIndia Raises Another Round Of Funding". India: Deal Curry. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Wealth India Financial was founded by C R Chandrasekar and Srikanth Meenakshi in 2008, who have more than two decades of experience in technology enabled retail financial services. The company provides online investment services for customers in India and internationally. It offers an online platform for investments in mutual funds, equities, and corporate deposits, equity investment platform.
  3. ^ a b Pradhan, Anmol (3 August 2010). "FundsIndia.com Raises Rs. 3 Crore From Inventus Capital". India: Medianama. Retrieved 28 October 2013. WIFS was founded by C R Chandrasekar and Srikanth Meenakshi in October 2008, and launched the site in June 2009. Kanwal Rekhi and Parag Dhol will join the founders on the board of the company.
  4. ^ a b Das, Nandana (31 July 2012). "FundsIndia.com raises $3.6M in Series B funding led by Foundation Capital". India: techcircle.in. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Chennai-based Wealth India Financial Services Pvt Ltd (WIFS), promoters of FundsIndia.com, an online financial services transaction platform for retail customers focusing on mutual funds, has raised Rs 20 crore ($3.6 million) in Series B round of funding led by Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm Foundation Capital, which also saw the participation of existing investor Inventus Capital. Almost three fourth of the money was put in by Foundation Capital, and the rest came from Inventus Capital. The funds will be used to grow the business both in terms of expanding the customer base and enhancing the online platform with new products and services, according to the company management. Ashu Garg will join the board of directors from Foundation Capital, while Parag Dhol from Inventus Advisory Services (India) will continue on the board. The company had earlier received Rs 3 crore in Series A round from Inventus Capital Partners in August 2010.
  5. ^ Reporter, BS (18 June 2015). "Wealth India Financial Services raises Rs 70 cr in Series C funding". Business Standard. India. Retrieved 9 September 2015. Sameer Shroff and Aditya Parekh of Faering Capital will join the board. Ashu Garg from Foundation Capital and Parag Dhol from Inventus Capital will continue on the board, along with the founders.
  6. ^ a b c Adajania, Kayezad (17 June 2013). "Buying mutual funds online is not difficult". Livemint. India. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Launched in June 2009, Fundsindia.com has impressive numbers. At present, Fundsindia.com claims to have over 25,000 customers. Open an online account, quite like you open a new email account, fill up a form online, take a printout of this pre-filled online form, sign it, attach a copy of your Permanent Account Number (PAN) card and know-your-client (KYC) acknowledgement and send to Fundsindia.com. Once this is done, you're good to buy MFs across 41 fund houses.
  7. ^ Shankar Roy, Kumar (2 August 2010). "Inventus Capital puts Rs 3 crore in WIFS". India: mydigitalfc.com. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Inventus Capital Partners, an early-growth venture capital firm investing in technology-powered companies, has put in Rs 3 crore as Series A investment in Wealth India Financial Services (WIFS), the promoter of leading online investment services platform FundsIndia.com. C R Chandrasekar and Srikanth Meenakshi started WIFS in October 2008. FundsIndia.com was launched in June 2009 with its mutual fund services as the first platform to offer online access to no-entry-load, no-transaction-fee approach to a wide set of mutual funds in India.
  8. ^ Dhanorkar, Sanket (15 April 2013). "Online investing: Tips to manage your investments through portals". The Economic Times. India. Retrieved 24 October 2013. FundsIndia, which started as a mutual fund solution provider, now offers other options. You can invest in company fixed deposits and NCDs, and also enrol in the National Pension System (NPS). These portals not only offer convenience, but also the benefits of zero cost and a wide range of options. All you have to do is create an online account with the portal, after which you can access mutual funds or other instruments on offer.
  9. ^ a b c Srivastava, Ishan (13 February 2011). "Mutual Fundas". The Times of India. Retrieved 28 October 2013. The camaraderie that CR Chandrasekar and Srikanth Meenakshi enjoys can only come after years of friendship. They were hostel mates during their MCA days in Hyderabad University. That was in 1989 - 1990. In the US, Chandrasekar and Meenakshi worked in a variety of high profile jobs related to financial services. "We both moved back to India to be closer to family," says Chandrasekar. Back home and together again, both sensed a need for a dedicated online firm for mutual funds market in India, as most websites focus on equity funds. They pooled in Rs. 1.5 crore of their savings and started Wealth India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. (FundsIndia.com) in a 1,000 sqft office in Ashok Nagar.
  10. ^ Vidya Bala; Aarati Krishnan (8 August 2010). "No-frills mutual fund investing". The Hindu Business Line. India. Retrieved 28 October 2013. Having worked with technology-driven financial service firms in the US, both Srikanth and Chandrasekar could see a huge service gap in the Indian mutual fund industry. While there were several equity-based trading platforms,there weren't any mutual fund investing platforms. All funds charged a 2.25 per cent entry load prior to 2009, and the partners saw the opportunity to waive that load and offer a no-frills option to mutual fund investors. Their revenue model though, is no different from any other service provider. An upfront commission and a trail fee received from fund houses, brokerage for equity transactions and a one-time commission from companies for corporate deposits are their key sources of revenue.
  11. ^ Peerzada Abrar; Vasumita s Adarsh (11 October 2013). "Entrepreneurs must have ability to build top-notch teams with ideas to impress investors". The Economic Times. India. Retrieved 24 October 2013. When CR Chandrasekar, chief executive of four-year-old FundsIndia, an online investment services platform for retail investors, approached venture capital firm Inventus Capital Partners for funds, the investor asked him to first earn decent revenues and prove the team could work together "In nine months, we acquired customers and earned good revenues," said Chandrasekar who built a solid team of 25 to execute the company's plans. Impressed, Inventus invested Rs 3 crore in the firm.
  12. ^ Varadharajan, S. (20 June 2015). "Fundsindia gets Rs. 70 cr funding". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Retrieved 9 September 2015. City-based Wealth India Financial Services, which runs Fundsindia.com, an online financial services transaction platform, has raised Rs. 70 crore in its Series C round funding from private equity firm Faering Capital, with follow-on investments from existing investors Foundation Capital and Inventus Capital Partners.
  13. ^ YS, Team (19 June 2015). "FundsIndia raises Rs 70 cr, plans to widen online services and go mobile". Your Story. Retrieved 9 September 2015. Of the total Rs 70 crore investments, the round was led by domestic asset management company Faering Capital followed by FundsIndia.com's current investors – Foundation Capital and Inventus Capital Partners, the company has said. "FundsIndia.com currently has investor base of 70,000 and plans to increase it to over 225,000 by 2016," according to FundsIndia.com CEO CR Chandrasekar. Launched in 2009, FundsIndia.com known for its, zero-cost, automated mutual fund investment services. The platform also offers equity investing, fixed deposits, and other retail financial products. The company is targeting to increase transactions through mobile platform to nearly 40-45 per cent from current 25 per cent within next one year. "Over the last six years, we have demonstrated that technology enabled advisory services (robo-advisory) using online platforms is the best way to deliver good financial advice to lot of people. This round of funding will further strengthen our efforts towards maximum reach and maximum impact without diluting quality," the CEO added. According to PTI, Faering Capital founders Sameer Shroff and Aditya Parekh have been inducted in the board of FundsIndia.com. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 384 (help)
  14. ^ Mahesh, Prahsant (18 June 2015). "FundsIndia.com raises Rs 70 crore for expansion". The Economic Times. India. Retrieved 9 September 2015. Fundsindia.com will use the investment to widen the reach of its online financial services across the country and enhance its service offering, especially using mobile platforms. Sameer Shroff and Aditya Parekh of Faering Capital will join the board. Ashu Garg from Foundation Capital and Parag Dhol from Inventus Capital will continue on the board along with the founders.
  15. ^ Bhaskaran, Deepti (8 December 2010). "Another portal offers NPS online". Mint. India. Retrieved 24 October 2013. If you are a new-age retirement corpus building investor, who likes his investing to be done at the click of a mouse and thinks that cheque books are for the geriatric, then your basket of choices just got bigger. Another online platform has started offering the New Pension System (NPS). Earlier, FundsIndia.com, an investment portal, was the first to offer it online.
  16. ^ Bharali, Eureka (1 December 2009). "FundsIndia Investors Savor Value-added Services at Low Cost". Silicon India. India. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Today, hundreds of investors enjoy the value-added financial services – services like trigger options, portfolio-SIP, alert SIP, pre-packaged portfolios, and easy transfer that are not available in any other financial services portal in India – at an unbeatable low-cost in this platform. The former allows an investor to set triggers on their mutual fund investments and take actions based on them. For example, if one has invested in a diversified equity fund and wants to cash out when Sensex reaches the 20K mark, all that he would need to do is setting a trigger for that, and FundsIndia will monitor the market and take care of it. This facility is currently available only in very few funds in the country and that too only in a restricted fashion. FundsIndia has enabled it in all the funds that it makes available to the investors. Similarly, while SIP investments are available on per-scheme basis today, the notion of portfolio SIP, which allows an investor to invest a set amount of money regularly in a basket of funds as opposed to a single fund, is available exclusively in FundsIndia. What makes all this even better, of course, is that they are all offered at no cost to the investors. While other online outlets like ICICI Direct and HDFC securities charge either a transaction fee or an account maintenance fee of some sort to service mutual fund investors, FundsIndia has kept all its services completely free of cost. They are an online only service provider, which means two things: one, they will be able to save enormously on the costs of physical infrastructure and staff salaries, and two, they will be able to provide unique services via their platform in a highly-scalable way at a very low cost. Also, they will be able to serve the customers without geographical limitations.
  17. ^ Shankar Roy, Kumar (13 January 2010). "VIPs have the potential to outperform SIPs". India. Retrieved 24 October 2013. Fundsindia.com, India's first online-only investment platform, announced on Wednesday the launch of a value-averaging investment plan (VIP) across the spectrum of equity mutual funds (MFs). Investors will be able to avail this promising new method of investing, which offers the potential of outperforming the traditional systematic investment Plan (SIP). So far, only Benchmark Mutual Fund offered the VIP facility in its S&P CNX 500 Fund. But now investors in different MF houses can utilise the VIP plan across hundreds of equity (growth) schemes of at least 26 fund houses available with FundsIndia.
  18. ^ Venkata, K. (3 July 2011). "The VIP way to lower investment cost". The Hindu Business Line. India. Retrieved 24 October 2013. But VIP is different. As the name suggests, it seeks to generate more value buying. It involves buying more number of units in a fund when the markets are moving down and lesser number of units when there is an upswing.
  19. ^ "FundsIndia.com launches Flexi-SIP". Business Standard. India. 3 February 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2013. FundsIndia.com, the leading online-only financial services provider, today launched its new value-added investment service named "Flexi-SIP". Using this service, investors in mutual funds will be able to make flexible systematic investment plan (SIP) payments for their monthly investments. "Along with Alert SIP, Portfolio SIP and value-averaging investment plan, Flexi-SIP will really help investors manage their regular investments in a way that is most comfortable for them", said Chandrasekar.
  20. ^ Joydeep Ghosh; Tania Kishore Jaleel (1 April 2011). "Don't misuse flexibility". Business Standard. India. Retrieved 24 October 2013. FundsIndia.com, an online financial services provider, has launched flexi- SIPs. These are similar to regular SIPs. In addition, these will also allow you to alter your investment levels, according to your financial situation.
  21. ^ a b Dhanorkar, Sanket (13 July 2015). "Would you let a robo-adviser handle your hard-earned money?". The Economic Times. India. Retrieved 9 September 2015. Besides, FundsIndia offers ready portfolios tailored according to the investor's time frame— less than one year, 1-3 years, 3-5 years, and so on—or as per the life stage of the user (25-35 years, 35-45 years, 45-55 years, and 55 plus). For an in depth, goal-based portfolio advice, FundsIndia also offers Smart Solutions, a tool that helps you identify the money you need to invest per month to achieve each goal. It also recommends a portfolio of funds to achieve this goal and helps set up an SIP mandate for this objective. It monitors this portfolio continuously and recommends changes as needed. Apart from this, the advisory provides comprehensive financial planning services, which are not algorithm-based and involve one-on-one interaction with a dedicated planner just like a traditional advisory service. {{cite news}}: line feed character in |quote= at position 601 (help)
  22. ^ Mohan, N. "Investment assistance for the family". Banking Frontiers. Glocal Infomart Pvt. Ltd. Retrieved 9 September 2015. FundsIndia.com is very different from all the other investment platforms in India. One, we offer the largest range of investment products in India, making this a convenient e-supermarket for all things investment. Two, the value-added services that we offer to our customers are unmatched. For example, no other investment platform in India allows investors to set actionable investment triggers (or alarms) according to market behaviour, invest through a variety of unique SIPs like Alert SIPs, Value-averaging Investment Plans (VIPs), Value-averaging Transfer Plans (VTPs), and Step-up SIPs, etc., or manage multiple account under one login ID. Three, we gave a robust research and advisory team for mutual funds and equities that seek to educate and advise investors. The advice offered by them is unbiased and personalized, and there are various checks in place to ensure that investors only get the best investment advice. Four, the portfolio and investment review tools offered by us cannot be found elsewhere. These tools allow you to easily monitor not just the performance of one investment, but of all the investments in your portfolio, allowing you to get an in-depth understanding of where your investments are going. Five, we have pioneered the concept of Robo-advisory in India. A perfect combination of financial expertise and technology, investors, through products like Smart Solutions and the New India Portfolio, can enjoy a superior and hassle-free investment experience.
  23. ^ "Credit reports: Now available on FundsIndia". FundsIndia Marketplace. Wealth India Financial Services Pvt. Ltd. 13 July 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015. Your credit score is a numerical value that denotes your creditworthiness. To build a strong financial future, it is important to understand your credit. You can now download your CIBIL Trans-Union Report (in association with the Credit Information Bureau Limited (CIBIL)) from your FundsIndia account by clicking here! {{cite web}}: |first= missing |last= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  24. ^ "The Financial Advisory Awards". CNBC-TV18 - UTI Financial Advisory Awards. 1 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
  25. ^ "Money Control". 1 July 2014. Retrieved 10 July 2014. FundsIndia.com has bagged the prestigious award for National Online Advisory Services at the Financial Advisor Awards 2014 that were held in Mumbai, Maharashtra, on June 30, 2014. The Financial Advisor Awards are a presentation of CNBC-TV18 and UTI. The jury constituted renowned financial experts from different organizations. The winner for this particular category was chosen on the basis of their growth as an organization, and the merits of their online advisory services in relation to the interests of their customers. The investment platform was bestowed with this honour for spearheading the financial advisory movement online with its innovative features and services.
  26. ^ CafeMutual, Team (3 July 2014). "FundsIndia wins award for providing online advisory services". cafemutual.com. Retrieved 9 September 2015. Chennai based platform FundsIndia.com has bagged UTI-CNBC award for delivering outstanding services in online financial advisory space. FundsIndia.com was bestowed with this honour for providing innovative features through its online financial advisory platform. In a press release Srikanth Meenakshi, co-founder and COO, FundsIndia.com, said, "We are extremely delighted to have won the award for National Online Advisory Services at the Financial Advisor Awards. FundsIndia has always aimed at offering good, research-based financial advice in a scalable manner to thousands of customers. We do this by bringing together technology and innovation in a way that has never been envisaged in India before. We'll keep innovating in this arena to continue to deliver top-class advisory services to a lot of people." The press release says that the winner for this category was chosen on the basis of their growth as an organization, and the merits of their online advisory services in relation to the interest of their customers. Besides, the jury has kept in mind the financial education, online viability, management capability, business strategy, quality of service and research, customer's feedback and other important factors while choosing the winner. FundsIndia.com offers value-added services like free financial advisory services, flexible SIPs, Smart Solutions, trigger-based investing and more. Also, it offers a service called FundsIndia Smart Solution which provides comprehensive financial planning and expert designed investment portfolios for important life events. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  27. ^ "फंड्सइंडिया.कॉम को ईटी अवॉर्ड" [FundsIndia.com wins ET award]. Absolute India (in Hindi). India. 31 March 2015. Retrieved 9 September 2015.
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