Determinants of Indian Investment behavior towards Mutual Funds and ULIPs

Abstract

Mutual funds (MFs) and Unit Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs) are believed to be the saviors of the lakhs of investors in India, who either don’t have the time or expertise to invest directly into the vibrant equity markets. The advent of behavioral finance concepts has added many new dimensions to the field of study of investor behavior. The present study focuses on exploring the determinants of investor behavior towards Indian MFs and ULIPs by surveying the perception of 800 investors of selected four districts of the state of Punjab. The findings of the study confirm the investor age and the investors’ capital market investment experience as the two significantly influencing determinants of investment perception, whereas the impact of other selected determinants i.e. profession, gender, residential locality, qualification, equity-investment experience, marital status, family income, family savings; on the investor perception is found to be non-significant.