NRI (UK) mutual fund investment advice

[GoIndia]

You have mentioned about brokerage, PINS and demat account. I guess your aim is to invest in stocks directly.
I was told earlier that NRIs don't get demat account directly. However, having PINS account is a completely a new and altogether a different ball game. You will have someone like a fund manager, who call the shots for the most part. Infact, RBI keeps a close tab on it and when a company receives its full quota of NRI funds, you won't be able to invest in it anymore. Some of the big guys (called private equity) operate in indian stocks via PINS account. What are its annual charges and is there a minimum limit to the funds that you need to keep it open?

I followed up with Profitshastra people. Demat account is the same for NRIs and resident Indians. It's the PINS account opened with RBI on behalf of the NRI that is different between NRI and resident demat account. All the trades made by NRIs are reported to RBI so that they can keep a tab on NRI quota in various companies etc. as you mentioned. There is no annual account maintenance fees except for Rs. 400 or so for demat account maintenance. Kotak requires a minimum of Rs. 10,000 in NRE and Rs. 2,000 in NRE PINS account. This total of Rs. 12,000 can't be used to purchase any securities in the trading account as it should sit as cash in the bank account.

There is no minimum amount that they require to start investing. I wasn't sure of their services. Therefore, I didn't send any money at first.

My brokerage charge is 0.8% and they are going to give me advise on asset allocation using Indian shares, mutual funds, corporate fixed deposits and ETFs. There are no advisory fees on top of that. I have filled out a questionaire that they sent out to gauge my risk-return profile. I also have an interview with their founder so that we can come up with an asset allocation plan.

I am very impressed with the service so far. I would like to know if other people had the same experience.

 

[sbalacha]

What are the incurring costs of buying mutual fund online by NRI and that of a resident? Is there any advantage of buying MFs as a resident? If so, I can think of buying MFs under my parent's name.