As NRIs send money to India in higher numbers than ever before, they all have one common question. How to invest in Mutual Funds (MFs) in India? While many people find investing in India a burden due to KYC, taxes and remittances, there are various platforms to help them. These platforms have apps and websites with easily navigable user interfaces and cover the needs of the NRI. They help NRIs to apply for OCI card to open NRO/NRE account for investing in MFs. The most important platforms are Vance, SBNRI and iNRI. Are these platforms designed for the common NRI? Let’s find out !
Some products
These platforms offer a wide variety of services to their customers. NRIs first create an account on these platforms and then follow the process determined by the documents they have. These platforms help NRIs who have acquired a foreign passport to apply for the OCI card, which is required to prove NRI status. Then the platform carries out verification of the PAN status and if necessary, helps in registering the PAN with NRI status and linking the PAN with the Aadhaar card. Finally, if the NRI does not have a bank account, the platforms ask the customer to open an account with the platforms’ partner banks. The platforms even have tie-ups with companies that send money to India at the correct market rate. Once the bank account is funded, this is where the investment journey of NRIs in India can begin. All these platforms have one thing in common: they specialize in MF investments for NRIs. They are all certified FCP distributors and have links with AMCs (asset management companies). Finally, these platforms have CAs specialized in tax declaration for NRIs. Some CAs on these platforms are even specialists in the American, Canadian or British tax code.
Customer service
A common concern among NRIs investing in India is whether they will be able to clear their doubts regarding their account details, KYC and other issues. They all have a WhatsApp line, where the NRI can speak to an officer. Additionally, they have in-app chatbots, as well as the traditional email method. A platform named iNRI even has a Gold account feature, wherein if the NRI maintains a portfolio above ₹5 lakh, he or she enjoys a series of benefits including 24×7 support /7. SBNRI even assigns RM to the client, which is helpful as the investor can clear any doubts regarding investments or documentation with an agent with whom he interacts regularly for investment advice. This takes a more customer-friendly approach, giving the investor who is thousands of miles away the feeling that their money is safe. These platforms also include blogs. These blogs are intended to encourage discussion on common issues that NRI investors face, so that they can be resolved in one go.
Prices
Fees and pricing are something all investors want to know about and avoid, if possible. Of the three platforms, Vance and SBNRI are the two that do not charge platform access fees. iNRI charges a fee of Rs. 3999 after the first year as a “platform fee”, which they levy on customers for granting them access to investment tools and other services. Vance and SBNRI do not have this burden. It is worth mentioning that these platforms offer regular mutual funds, which have higher expense ratios, therefore impacting the investor’s portfolio in the long term. The iNRI gold account mentioned above has another advantage. Those holding wallets above 5 Lakhs are exempt from paying the annual fee of Rs. 4,000.3999. Rates for tax filing on these platforms range from Rs. 5,000 to Rs. required and the complexity of the tax return.
Key takeaways
Although these platforms offer a relatively simple investing experience, there are a few things we want to make you aware of. Firstly, there are many other well-known platforms, especially discount brokers like Zerodha and Groww, which strive to streamline the investment process for NRIs. Groww even suspended its admission of new NRI customers due to KYC issues. So, one should keep an eye on the discount brokers that are made available to NRIs. It is also worth mentioning that US and Canada based NRIs face more restrictions while investing in India due to FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) and other compliance issues imposed by American and Canadian governments. Finally, platforms like SBNRI and iNRI are platforms that help the investor, but those who feel investor savvy may consider approaching the CMA directly.
The writer is an intern at bl.portfolio