Investment Behaviour during Covid Times: A Study of Mutual Fund Investors of Gwalior City

Abstract

Mutual funds are said to be “one of the most suitable investment alternatives†for retail investors. Mutual funds are diversified, affordable, transparent, professionally managed and well regulated. At the same time, they offer wide variety of schemes which are designed to attain diverse investment objectives. Mutual funds have a potential to generate high returns and at the same time they reduce the investment risk through diversification of portfolio. Because of these reasons, mutual funds are quite popular among retail investors and most of the retail investors in India, at least in cities, invest a sizeable portion of their savings in mutual fund schemes. This made mutual-fund industry as one of the fastest growing sectors in Indian financial services industry until this Covid-19 crisis hit the Indian market. It started as a medical crisis but it very soon became a human and an economic crisis. This crisis not only drastically reduced the income and savings of people but also impacted their psychology as well as their investment behavior.

This study is an endeavor to find out the investment behavior of mutual-fund investors in Gwalior city. The researcher conducted an online survey of mutual fund investors living in Gwalior city using a well-structured questionnaire to learn about their investment behavior related to mutual fund investment during the Covid times. The study reveals that the investors not only became more cautious during this time but they also modified their approach towards investments.