Comparative Analysis of Selected Open-End Mutual Fund Schemes in India*

Open-ended mutual funds are fast becoming a popular investment decision in India. This research compares several open-end mutual fund schemes in India concerning their performance, risks, and vulnerability to regulatory adjustments. Quantitative methods were used in the study to examine the fund performance basis data from 20 schemes employed over five years across the four major asset management companies. Examples are return, volatility measured by standard deviation, risk measured by beta, and other measures such as the Sharpe ratio and Jensen's alpha. In quantitative aspects, the fund manager and the investment approach are considered. The results show that out of the analyzed funds, a majority had a lower risk-adjusted return than the Nifty index, coupled with different degrees of fluctuation in risk across different categories of funds. The emergence of new guidelines, particularly the recent rules set by the Securities Exchange Board of India, or SEBI, is described in the study about improving transparency and investor protection. It also discusses the increasing importance of sustainable/responsible investments in India. This work is therefore valuable to the knowledge of mutual funds and their operations in India, and the information is useful to investors, managers of mutual funds, and policymakers. Some research implications for future studies are proposed; the main research gap is an examination of how technological developments and changes in investors' characteristics affect the mutual fund business. The author believes that mutual funds will continue to grow at a positive rate in India based on demographic changes, liberalization, and investment improvement.