Ranganayaki N (2003)34 has concluded a study on the title of “investor‟s
perception towards investment with special to women investors.” A sample of 100 respondents in Sulur and adjoining areas was taken. It is concluded that recurring deposit and post office savings are most preferable investment avenues in the banking sector. It may be due to safety, liquidity and also for the benefits. Whenever, one thinks of women and investment the first thing that comes to mind is gold and Jewellery. But now-a-day‟s women are disproving the above said belief Ronald T. Wilcox (2003)35 examined how investors choose a mutual fund and found that investors pay a great attention to past performance and also indicated that the educated investors demonstrated greater knowledge of basic finance made poorer, not better, decisions than their less financially savvy. Lenard et. al. (2003)36 empirically investigated investor‟s attitudes toward mutual funds. The results indicate that the decision to switch funds within a fund family is affected by investor‟s attitude towards risk, current asset allocation, investment losses, investment mix, capital base of the fund age, initial fund performance, investment mix, fund and portfolio diversification. The study reported that these factors are crucial to be considered before switching funds regardless of whether they invest in non-employer plans or in both employer and non-employer plans. Paula A. Tkac (2004)39 found that investors are irrational or in some other sense cannot look out for their own best interests. Mutual fund industry provides a variety of products and price structures to heterogeneous consumer preferences and budgets. Consumer who prefer more style, features or power willingly pay higher prices and the investor rely on and pay to the financial advisors or brokers for processing and formulating guidance regarding fund allocation. They are facing risk because of misconduct by advisory firms. They are not demanding any disclosures of their fund. The risks reduced to zero if investors are willing to pay with their own time and energy to monitor their fund position K. D. Mehru (2004)40 documented that the ignorance of the investors about mutual funds coupled with aggressive selling by promising higher returns of the investors have resulted in loss of investors‟ confidence due to inability to provide higher return. The agents or distributors of mutual funds are more governed by the commissions and incentives they get for selling the schemes and not by the requirements of the investors and quality of the products. They do not explain the risk factors to the investors. Sankaran (2004)42 proposes the future direction for investors will be to invest in pension funds, as government is envisaging a policy to cover all kinds of investors. He further opined that MF industry will continue to grow in spite of competition and will be propelled in the right direction because of the investor friendly financial markets. Singh (2004)43 has established that middle class salaried investors and professionals perfected to have disclosure of net asset value on a day today basis and wanted to invest in MFs in order to get higher tax rebates. Further, it is evidenced that small investors perceived MFs to be better investment alternative and public sector investments to be less risky. Manjesh (2005)46 in article titled "Money Market Mutual Funds (MMMFs): A Macro Perspective" has elucidated the origin, features and advantages of MMMFs as to being a very viable option for investment for the retail investor as Money Markets offer superior returns in comparison with bank deposits, are highly liquid at relatively lower risk for short term funds. The paper focuses on the advantages of MMMF investment for a retail investor and discusses the problems in penetration of MMMFs for the retail investor in India as it is obstructed by perceived conflict of interest by the regulators (RBI and SEBI) in the matter of control of MMMFs, lack of Mutual Funds points of contact across the country, the reliance of Mutual Fund industry on corporate investment and structural constraints. Ramamurthy and Reddy S (2005)48 conducted a study to analyze recent trends in the MF industry and draw a conclusion that the main benefits for small investors‟ due to efficient management, diversification of investment, easy administration, nice return potential, liquidity, transparency, flexibility, affordability, wide range of choices and a proper regulation governed by SEBI. Kavitha M (2006)58 discussed that investors in Coimbatore city are aware of the various investment opportunities. They are also aware that no investment can be made without risk. Each and every investment has its own risk, even the more Secured investment like bank deposits, land, gold, and silver etc. Investments made in land and buildings, gold etc, has comparative value in long run. The private sector investments consists of equity shares and preference shares , debentures and public deposits with companies, the predominance of Govt. sector serves the purpose of bringing about confidence to the individual investors Jayanthi B (2006)59 conducted a study entitled “A study on customer perception towards UTI mutual fund” Coonoor with special reference to Karvy Stock Broking Limited, Coonoor. The study was undertaken to know the perception of the customers towards UTI mutual fund and thereby improve the efficiency of UTI. The study revealed that the investors have greatest preference for capital appreciation. The level of awareness about UTI mutual fund schemes can be enhanced through the efforts of the company. Since many investors are not sure of investing again in UTI mutual fund, the company should take efforts to make them invest again. The statistical analysis of data has given insight into investor demographics and their investment preference.UTI mutual fund has its own brand name and thereby it must improve its operations through its performance and service Devasena S (2006)63 made an attempt to find out “Risk perception and portfolio management of equity investors”. The study reveals that the investors in Tirupur Karvy are not aware of portfolio which would minimize risk and maximize the return. And also it is clear that the investors in Tirupur Karvy have low level of understanding about risk and the importance of portfolio management as they are not aware of the portfolio management proper steps to be taken in order to improve the awareness level in the minds of the investors. Bollen (2007)67 studied the dynamics of investor fund flows in a sample of socially screened equity mutual funds and compared the relation between annual fundflows & lagged performance in SR funds to the same relation in a matched sample of conventional funds. The result revealed that the extra-financial SR attribute serves to dampen the rate at which SR investors trade mutual funds. The study noted that the differences between SR funds and their conventional counterparts are robust over time and persist as funds age. The study found that the preferences of SR investors may be represented by conditional multi-attribute utility function (especially when SR funds deliver positive returns). The study remarked that mutual fund companies can expect SR investors to be more loyal than investors in ordinary funds. Onur Arugaslam, Ed Edwards and Ajay Samant (2008)69 noted that better investment strategy enables investors to earn superior return for an average level of risk. An investor, who is comfortable with high level risk, could have attained higher returns Ayyappan S (2009)72 made an attempt to analyze investor‟s satisfaction and their awareness. On the basis of the results of the study, the he has made some definite suggestions like taking good decision while investment, carefully selecting proper avenues, to compare the performance of return and investors could easily receive updated information for the further development of investment. It hopes that, the awareness of investors will be raised to a considerable extent if all the suggestions are implemented. Sanjay Das (2010)74 MFs have emerged as an important segment of financial markets and so far have delivered value to the investors. The study reveals that the investors‟ perception is dependent on the demographic profile and assesses that the investor‟s age, marital status and occupation has direct impact on the investors‟ choice of investment. The study further reveals that female segment is not fully tapped and even there is low target on higher income group people. Hence, fund managers should take steps to tap the female segment and higher income group segment to enhance more investment in MF Investment Avenue which would really help the industry to flourish. Further, the findings of the research were on the factors influencing investor‟s perception on public private MF‟s. It reveals that liquidity, flexibility, tax savings, service quality and transparency etc. are the factors which have a higher impact on perception of investors. These factors give them the required boosting in the investment process. Therefore, it becomes imperative on part of the fund managers to enhance these features for attracting more investors and also to retain the trust, the investors have in them. Lakshmana Rao (2011)77 stated in his study on „Analysis of investors‟ perceptions towards mutual fund schemes (with reference to awareness and adoption of personal and family considerations)‟ that Investors between 31 to 40 years of age have highest awareness and adoption of different mutual fund schemes. It is also concluded that there is an association between respondents‟ residential status and awareness of balanced fund and debt fund schemes. Rao (2011)78 conducted study on “Analysis of individual investor behavior towards Mutual Fund Scheme”. In this study author presents mutual fund investor awareness and adoption of different schemes with educational level. The research findings showed that with increased level of education is linked with greater risk tolerance. This tends to support the hypothesis developed in previous researches i.e. positive relationship exists between educational attainment and financial risk Hossein Panahian et al (2011)79 showed that investors' attitude towards transparency and disclosure of financial information, Board structure and performance, corporate issues and surveillance measures in stock market and, finally, the ownership structure had the greatest influence in explaining investors' behavior in Tehran Stock Exchange. Consequently, paying attention to different aspects of such cases as providing information on time, accessibility and reliability of information provided for investors considering the preference of content over form as well as providing appropriate information about Board structure and performance, corporate issues and ownership structure can be a good strategy to attract investors and encourage them to attend more actively in stock market. toleSingh (2012)84 conducted an empirical study of Indian investors and observed that most of the respondents do not have much awareness about the various function of mutual funds and they are bit confused regarding investment in mutual funds. The study found that some demographic factors like gender, income and level of education have their significant impact over the attitude towards mutual funds. On the contrary age and occupation have not been found influencing the investor‟s attitude. The study noticed that return potential and liquidity have been perceived to be most lucrative benefits of investment in mutual funds and the same are followed by flexibility, transparency and affordability. rance.
Gianna Pomata (Editor), Nancy G. Siraisi (Editor) - Historia - Empiricism and Erudition in Early Modern Europe (Transformations - Studies in The History of Science and Technology) (2006)