Statements and tracking your money

Trust in a fund is built on the investor being able to see what they own, so the reporting rules are worth knowing precisely. The basic document is the Statement of Account, sent for any month in which the folio has a transaction, listing each transaction’s units, NAV and value along with the closing balance. Above it sits the more useful Consolidated Account Statement (CAS), which gathers every scheme across every mutual fund an investor holds, tied together by PAN. The CAS is issued monthly to those who transacted that month; where there has been no transaction for six months, it switches to a half-yearly despatch.

When money comes out, redemption proceeds are paid to the sole or first holder, by electronic transfer or cheque, within the timeline SEBI specifies. For those who want speed, the Instant Access Facility (IAF) gives same-day credit, but only for Liquid schemes, and only up to ₹50,000 or 90% of the folio value, whichever is lower, per day. A few housekeeping facts round this out: an individual can register up to five bank accounts on a folio (a non-individual up to ten), with one set as default; and the industry now offers tools such as MITRA to trace inactive or unclaimed folios and DigiLocker to store statements. Good service is often just making sure the investor can always find, and reach, their own money.