Should disclosure of quarterly portfolios by MFs be made compulsory to improve transparency?
• When companies were asked to declare results on a quarterly basis, stock exchanges interpreted that MFs, too, will be required to declare their quarterly performances. MFs, anyway, declare their performances, ie, NAV, on a daily basis in case of open-ended schemes and on a weekly basis for closed-end schemes. NAV is the basic information required to make informed investment decisions. Hence, a half-yearly report card for MFs is considered okay. Besides, it will be very expensive for MFs to declare performance on a quarterly basis as the costs will be ultimately passed on to investors, ie, the scheme’s unitholders. Therefore, stock exchanges have exempted MFs from disclosing quarterly performances in the listing agreement. MFs have been demanding tax exemption for dividends. Are you in favour of the same? • MFs have been demanding this for quite some time. We are taking the matter to the CBDT. SEBI is in favour of exempting MF dividends from tax. Exemption of dividend from tax will gi
