Sebi plans 2,000 ‘Super ATMs’ for Mutual Funds

Market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), is set to launch 1,500-2,000 super-ATM centres across the country in the next 12-18 months for the growth of the mutual fund industry, a top official said. "To facilitate investments in mutual funds and availability of information to investors, we need to create a huge infrastructure. We are trying to build this through a concept of super-ATM centres around the country," Sebi's executive director, KN Vaidyanathan, said at a mutual fund award function here. At the press of a button in super-ATMs, investors would be able to transact and get all the information about mutual fund schemes. The ATMs will also send queries and receive information, he said. Sebi would partner with the mutual fund industry to build infrastructure and a large part of the work will be in place in the next 12-18-months. Mr Vaidyanathan said that the mutual fund industry was poised to grow from Rs 3-lakh-crore to Rs 30-lakh-crore in the next five years. The number of shareholder accounts was also set to grow from two crore to five crore in the next five years.