India: in 2003/04 our firm led the consortium which worked for twenty-eight man months on a project to deliver to the Indian Ministry of Finance a three-volume report and recommendations on Reform of the Mutual Funds in India, funded by the Asian Development Bank.  This project included analysis of the the demand for funds; the governance structure of funds; the legal and regulatory framework governing funds and their operators, trustees, custodians, registrars, administrators and sales agents; the powers and regulatory practice of the Securities and Exchange Board of India in relation to all these entities; the regulation and operation of distribution channels for funds; the supply of assets in which funds can invest; market infrastructure and the fiscal and accounting treatment of funds. 

Key recommendations – which focused on the need to improve the attractiveness of mutual funds to retail savers - included rationalisation of mutual funds’ governance structure; introduction of professional corporate trustees; creation of a single cohesive regulatory regime for funds and their operators with substantial improvements to charging structures and fund disclosure generally; elimination of anomalous tax treatment of corporate investment in funds and standardisation and rationalisation of accounting for funds.   The findings and recommendations were presented to market participants at a stakeholder seminar.  The final report included drafts of a new regulatory framework and risk management manual.  Total value of funds under management has grown nearly 50% since the time of our study.