Planning for retirement through mutual funds has become a preferred route for many investors, especially those relying on systematic investment plans (SIPs) with gradual step-ups. However, questions around fund selection, portfolio allocation, and the impact of rising assets under management (AUM) often create confusion. A recent query highlights how investors can navigate these concerns while staying focused on long-term goals.
The same is the case with Kumari Geeta, an art teacher from Delhi and a viewer of The Money Show on ET Now, who has been investing regularly through SIPs across categories including midcap, smallcap, and flexicap funds.
Her monthly investments include Rs 6,000 in Edelweiss Midcap Fund, Rs 4,000 in Nippon India Small Cap Fund, and Rs 5,000 in Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund. She also plans to start a Rs 3,000 SIP in Bandhan Small Cap Fund and has exposure to precious metal-based ETFs. Alongside, she contributes Rs 10,000 per month to PPF, with a total mutual fund portfolio of around Rs 1 lakh.
Her primary concern revolves around the rising size of the Nippon India Small Cap Fund. The scheme is currently the largest fund in the smallcap funds category, with an AUM of Rs 61,808 crore as of March 31, 2026. She worries that the growing size may impact the fund’s ability to generate strong returns going forward.
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Addressing this, financial expert Harshvardhan Roongta noted that such concerns are partly valid. In the smallcap space, deploying large amounts of money can be challenging due to limited high-quality investment opportunities and relatively smaller company sizes. Large inflows into a single stock can significantly move prices, making it harder for fund managers to maintain performance consistency. “Yes, so, her concern regarding investing in the Nippon Smallcap is that the scheme’s AUM has become very large. So, she assumes and, believes that it is difficult for the fund manager to generate returns. So, the AUM currently is about Rs 67,000 to 68,000 crore,” the expert said. “Now to a certain extent I would agree with her because in the smallcap, in a pure smallcap fund to find opportunities to invest and deploy money can get challenging given that the number of companies that a fund manager would ideally want to pick in that category would be very limited and the size being smaller,” the expert further said. That said, he emphasised that while Geeta may consider redirecting fresh SIPs to another smallcap fund like Bandhan Small Cap, there is no need to exit her existing investments in Nippon India Small Cap Fund. The scheme remains a strong performer in its category, and staying invested allows her to benefit from its long-term potential.
“All the accumulated corpus in the Nippon Smallcap she can leave it as it is, it is a brilliant scheme within the category, so you do not need to make switches onto the existing accumulated fund value of the Nippon Smallcap,” the expert commented on Nippon India Small Cap Fund.
On the broader portfolio strategy, Geeta plans to invest Rs 16,000 monthly after adjustments and increase her SIP amount by 5% every year. Assuming a 12% annual return over a 15-year period, this disciplined approach could help her build a corpus of around Rs 1 crore.
Without the annual step-up, the estimated corpus would be closer to Rs 80 lakh, highlighting the significant impact of increasing contributions over time.
However, Roongta cautioned that a Rs 1 crore target may not be sufficient for retirement after 15 years due to inflation. Investors need to account for the future value of money and reassess whether their target corpus aligns with their long-term financial needs.
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Overall, the case underscores the importance of balancing portfolio diversification with realistic expectations. While tactical changes such as redirecting SIPs can help optimise returns, staying invested in well-performing funds and maintaining a disciplined, step-up strategy remains key to achieving long-term financial goals.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
If you have any mutual fund queries, message on ET Mutual Funds on Facebook/Twitter. We will get it answered by our panel of experts. Do share your questions on ETMFqueries@timesinternet.in along with your age, risk profile, and twitter handle.
Munis declined slightly. U.S. investment-grade bonds, including municipal bonds (munis), declined slightly in the quarter. Surging interest rates in March largely drove the quarter’s decline. The volatile period included renewed tariff concerns, a Federal Reserve policy pause, mixed economic data, war
China has overtaken Japan as the dominant force shaping Thailand’s industrial economy, leading Eastern Economic Corridor investment approvals, capturing 42 percent of total foreign investment value, and establishing manufacturing plants for electric vehicles through companies such as BYD, Great Wall Motor, and Changan. Chinese firms also built the EEC’s core digital infrastructure through Huawei and Alibaba Cloud.
Japan’s decades-long role in building Thailand’s automotive and manufacturing base has not been formally displaced, but the direction of new investment has shifted decisively. Chinese EV brands held 89 percent of Thai EV sales in early 2024, while nearly 3,800 Thai manufacturing firms deregistered between 2021 and 2025, coinciding with accelerating Chinese competitive pressure and a record trade deficit.
Walk into a major car dealership strip in Bangkok today and count the badges. A few years ago, you would have found Toyota, Honda, Isuzu, and Mitsubishi dominating every forecourt — the familiar insignia of a five-decade partnership between Thailand and Japan that built one of Asia’s most sophisticated manufacturing ecosystems from scratch. Today, you will find BYD, MG, Great Wall Motor, Changan, and GAC Aion competing aggressively for the same space — and, in many cases, outselling the Japanese brands they sit next to.
That showroom shift is the most visible sign of a transformation that is happening across every layer of Thailand’s industrial economy: in the Eastern Economic Corridor’s investment approvals, in the collapse of Thai manufacturing firm registrations, in the digital infrastructure running underneath Thai e-commerce and logistics, and in the trade flows that define what Thailand imports, from whom, and at what price.
China has not merely become Thailand’s largest trading partner or its biggest source of foreign investment. It has begun replacing Japan as the structural anchor of Thai industry — the country that shapes the manufacturing base, sets the technological standards, and determines which sectors grow and which stagnate. That is a different and more consequential thing. And the remarkable fact is that neither of the two most detailed accounts of China’s manufacturing investment in Thailand — one focused on industrial FDI, one on electric vehicles — names it directly. Read together, however, the scale of what is happening is hard to miss.
The five-decade foundation
To appreciate how significant this shift is, it helps to understand what Japan built.
Thailand’s automotive sector was effectively created by Japanese capital. Toyota, Honda, Isuzu, and Mitsubishi invested collectively tens of billions of dollars in Thai manufacturing over five decades, establishing deep supplier networks, training a skilled workforce, and making Thailand the largest automotive exporter in Southeast Asia. By the early 2020s, the so-called “Detroit of Asia” title was not just a marketing phrase — it reflected a genuinely integrated industrial ecosystem in which Japanese firms occupied the commanding heights and Thai manufacturers supplied the ecosystem around them.
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The Eastern Economic Corridor — the 30,000-square-kilometre special economic zone stretching across Chonburi, Rayong, and Chachoengsao that now anchors Thailand’s industrial ambitions — was designed in part to extend that ecosystem into higher-value sectors. Japan was expected to lead that extension, as it had led every previous wave of Thai industrialisation.
That expectation is not being met.
The reversal in the EEC
In the first eleven months of 2025, China led all foreign business approvals in the Eastern Economic Corridor. Japan — which built Thailand’s auto industry and had dominated Thai industrial investment for decades — came second.
That is one data point. But it sits inside a pattern that is hard to explain away as a temporary fluctuation. By 2024, Chinese investors accounted for more than 42 percent of Thailand’s total foreign investment value — a figure that dwarfs any other single country’s contribution. In just two years, Chinese firms registered 588 projects worth nearly $7 billion, targeting the high-value sectors — electric vehicles, digital infrastructure, new energy — that will define Thailand’s industrial economy for the next decade.
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Huawei and Alibaba Cloud have built the backbone of the EEC’s digital infrastructure: 5G networks, cloud computing platforms, and industrial AI systems that optimise logistics, port management, and smart grid operations. The Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Park alone has attracted $2.5 billion in investment and employs over 20,000 Thai workers. For Chinese manufacturers arriving in the EEC, the digital environment feels familiar. That familiarity reduces friction and accelerates operational ramp-up in ways that, for manufacturers from other countries, it does not.
None of this happened because Japan withdrew. Toyota, Honda, and their tier-one suppliers are still present, still investing, still employing large numbers of Thai workers. What has changed is the direction of gravity: new investment, in the sectors that define the future, is increasingly flowing from China.
The automotive inflection point
The electric vehicle market is where the displacement is most visible and most consequential.
Thailand’s government made a deliberate choice when it launched its 30@30 electrification policy in 2022 — the target of producing 30 percent of all vehicles as EVs by 2030. That choice was, in effect, a bet on a different set of partners. Japanese automakers, dominant in internal combustion engine vehicles, were moving more slowly toward EVs than their Chinese counterparts — a consequence of deep commitment to hybrid technology, reliance on legacy powertrain supply chains, and a corporate culture that historically favours incremental over disruptive change. Thailand decided not to wait for its existing partners to catch up.
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The invitation was accepted quickly. BYD, Great Wall Motors, and Changan have collectively committed over $1.4 billion to Thai EV manufacturing — physical plants, not showrooms. BYD opened a Rayong facility with annual capacity of 150,000 units. Great Wall converted its existing Thai facility from ICE production to EV. Changan committed 9.8 billion baht to a dedicated production plant targeting 100,000 EVs annually.
The consumer market followed. EV registrations in Thailand quadrupled from under 25,000 units in 2022 to nearly 90,000 in 2024. Chinese brands — led by BYD, MG, and NETA — captured 89 percent of all EV sales in the January–April 2024 period. By 2025–2026, 7 of the top 10 EV brands in Thailand are Chinese. That is not a trend. It is a structural realignment.
Toyota remains the overall market leader in total Thai vehicle sales. Japanese brands still dominate the ICE segment. But the ICE segment is the one that is shrinking. The response is now underway — Toyota has announced hybrid expansion investment, Honda is committing to new EV models, Mitsubishi is partnering with Nissan on shared EV platforms. The question is timing. Chinese manufacturers are already at scale in Thailand. They are producing, exporting, and competing on price. The window for Japanese brands to reclaim dominance in the EV segment is narrow, and it will not stay open indefinitely.
What happened in automotive is not a story confined to automotive. It is a demonstration of a dynamic that is replicating across sectors: a technology transition exposes an incumbent’s slowness; a better-capitalised competitor moves into the gap; and a market position built over decades is disrupted in years.
The displacement no one is tallying
The manufacturing FDI data tells the story of what China is building in Thailand. A different number tells the story of what that building is replacing.
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Between January 2021 and October 2025, 3,796 Thai manufacturing firms deregistered, while 650 new Chinese firms entered the market. The displacement ratio — roughly six Thai closures for every new Chinese entrant — captures a dynamic that sits largely outside the headline narrative of Chinese investment as opportunity. Some portion of those Thai firm closures reflects normal business attrition. But the correlation with the acceleration of Chinese competitive pressure — cheaper components, lower-priced finished goods, integrated supply chains that Thai SMEs cannot match — is hard to dismiss.
This is where the Japan comparison becomes sharpest. Japanese industrial investment, whatever its limitations, developed deep local linkages over decades. Japanese tier-one suppliers established Thai counterparts. Technology transfer, however incomplete, created Thai manufacturing capabilities. The Thai industrial SME ecosystem that Chinese competition is now eroding was, in significant part, built around and within the Japanese manufacturing ecosystem that preceded it.
Chinese industrial investment is, so far, displaying a different pattern. Many Chinese-owned operations in Thailand import the majority of their components and inputs from China, limiting the supply chain spillover that Thailand’s government hoped would accompany the investment. Thailand’s trade deficit with China hit a record $19.23 billion in just the first four months of 2025, as Thai businesses stocked Chinese machinery, components, and raw materials. A country importing at that scale from its primary investor faces a structural dependency that Japan, even at the peak of its influence, never created in quite the same way.
What the articles don’t say — but show
The two most detailed accounts of China’s industrial surge in Thailand — one on manufacturing FDI, one on the EV transition — both note Japan’s displacement as a data point and move on. Neither attempts to name the broader pattern.
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That reticence is understandable. Both articles are written for business executives assessing opportunities in Thailand, not for historians documenting a strategic inflection point. Japan’s displacement is, from that perspective, context rather than thesis.
But context shapes everything. The EEC’s digital infrastructure runs on Huawei’s 5G backbone and Alibaba Cloud’s computing layer — which means that the Japanese manufacturers still operating inside the EEC are doing so on infrastructure built by their competitors’ home-country firms. The automotive ecosystem that Japanese companies spent 50 years constructing is now producing electric vehicles, at scale, under Chinese brand names. The sector-specific incentives Thailand is deploying to attract the next wave of investment — semiconductors, batteries, green energy, digital infrastructure — are structured around Chinese investors’ capabilities and Chinese firms’ capital requirements.
Japan has not lost Thailand. But it is no longer shaping it. That distinction, quiet as it is, may prove to be the defining industrial story of the decade in Southeast Asia.
The lesson that travels
The EV article offers a formulation that applies beyond automotive: a market position built over decades can be disrupted in years when the underlying technology changes and a better-capitalised competitor is willing to move fast.
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Japan moved slowly because its legacy strengths — ICE technology, hybrid systems, deeply integrated powertrain supply chains — became liabilities when the market shifted toward electrification. The capital it had invested in those capabilities made it harder, not easier, to pivot. China had no such legacy to defend. Its manufacturers entered the EV era without incumbency costs, moved aggressively on price, and used Thailand’s own policy framework to establish manufacturing positions that are now generating exports to markets from Indonesia to Europe.
The broader question, which neither article quite asks, is whether China’s current position in Thailand creates the same kind of incumbency advantage that Japan once had — and whether, in a decade, another technology shift will find China defending a legacy and a new competitor moving fast into the gap.
For executives making long-term investment decisions in Thailand’s industrial economy, that question may be the most important one to hold alongside the opportunity data.
The bottom line
China has not formally replaced Japan in Thailand. There has been no ceremony, no announcement, no moment of handover. Japan’s companies are still there, still relevant, still employing hundreds of thousands of Thai workers. But the structural facts have shifted: China leads EEC approvals, dominates EV market share, accounts for 42 percent of FDI by value, and has built the digital backbone on which the next generation of Thai industrial activity will run.
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The handover is not complete. It may never be, in any absolute sense — Thailand’s multi-alignment strategy is specifically designed to prevent any single partner from becoming indispensable. But it is further advanced than most headlines suggest, and it is moving in one direction.
The factory of the future in Thailand, increasingly, was funded, equipped, and built by China. Japan built the factory of the past. The question for everyone else is which generation of factory they are positioned for.
This article draws on the five-part series “Thailand × China: The Business Opportunity,” which examines the bilateral relationship across trade, manufacturing, electric vehicles, digital infrastructure, and geopolitics.
The shares of the respective parent companies of Nykaa and Mamaearth saw a sharp surge on Friday, after the two beauty and skincare companies posted strong surge in profitability and leading to bullish calls from international brokerages, with analysts highlighting which stock investors should consider buying now.
Nykaa-parent FSN E-Commerce Ventures on Thursday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 78 crore for the March quarter of FY26, marking a 286% jump from Rs 20 crore in the same period last year. Its revenue from operations meanwhile rose 28% year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 2,648 crore, compared with Rs 2,062 crore in Q4 FY25.
Mamaearth-parent Honasa Consumer on the other hand reported a whopping 177% year-on-year (YoY) jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 69 crore for the fourth quarter of the financial year 2026, from Rs 25 crore in the year-ago period. Honasa’s revenue from operations, meanwhile, jumped over 23% YoY to Rs 657 crore during Q4 of FY26, compared to the Rs 533 crore revenue reported in the corresponding quarter of FY25.
Nykaa shares gained more than 4% to hit an intraday high of Rs 285.60 apiece on NSE, before paring some gains to close at Rs 277.25 apiece on Friday. The shares of the company gained more than 6% in one month, 4% in 2026 so far and 27% in one year. The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 79,176 crore.
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Honasa Consumer shares meanwhile saw a sharper rally, jumping around 12% to hit an intraday high of Rs 402.80 apiece on NSE, before paring some gains and closing at Rs 384.35 apiece. The stocks gained over 7% in one week, 10% in one month and 34% in 2026 so far. The company has a market capitalisation of Rs 12,361 crore.
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Nykaa vs Honasa: Which stock should you buy?
At current levels, neither Nykaa nor Honasa offers a clean enough risk-reward for fresh allocation, according to Harshal Dasani, Business Head at INVasset PMS. “Nykaa’s Q4 was operationally stronger, with healthy revenue growth, sharp profit improvement and better margin delivery. The fashion business moving closer to breakeven is also a positive signal. But the market is already discounting a fair part of that improvement. At these valuations, Nykaa needs consistent margin expansion and execution discipline, not just one strong quarter,” the analyst said. On the other hand, Honasa’s Q4 also showed a strong rebound, helped by revenue growth, better profitability and operating leverage. “The concern is not the quarter; the concern is durability,” according to Dasani. “This is still a young brand portfolio where repeat behaviour, distribution depth and category leadership need more evidence across cycles,” he added. Between the two, Nykaa has the stronger platform and clearer category positioning, while Honasa has the sharper near-term recovery, Dasani believes. He, however, concluded by saying that neither looks compelling enough to chase after the results reaction. “This is a setup where patience is better rewarded than momentum chasing. Fresh exposure can wait until valuations offer a wider margin of safety and earnings delivery becomes more repeatable,” he further said.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
Even as foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have slashed their concentration in India’s marquee blue-chip stocks to nearly half of what it was four years ago, they have quietly expanded the number of Indian stocks they hold stakes in from roughly 900 to 1,300. Foreign investors are piling into capital goods, manufacturing, defence, healthcare and new-age tech, sectors where the action is predominantly in mid- and small-cap stocks.
The aggregate FPI holding of Indian stocks has ebbed to roughly 15%, down from 20% a decade ago. But within that retreat lies a structural repositioning as the top 10 Nifty stocks, which once accounted for 40.9% of all FPI holdings in India, now command just 21.3%. The money is moving down the market-cap ladder, chasing growth in corners of the Indian economy that global investors once largely ignored.
“FIIs are not exactly shunning Indian blue-chips; they are rebalancing their portfolios,” said Pranay Aggarwal, Director and CEO of Stoxkart. “The rise in FII ownership from around 900 stocks to 1,300 stocks shows that foreigners are expanding their India universe. It does indicate growing interest in select small and midcaps, but not blindly as FIIs are focusing on companies with stronger earnings growth, better governance, liquidity and scalability.”
The supply of investable stocks has itself grown dramatically. India’s IPO boom between 2023 and 2025 produced 259 main-board listings, including a wave of new-age tech companies like Ather Energy, Groww, Pine Labs, PhysicsWallah, Meesho and others giving foreign investors “a richer, deeper menu that simply did not exist in 2022,” according to Vishad Turakhia, CEO of Equirus Securities.
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Separately, PLI incentives and the China-plus-one manufacturing shift have created an entirely new cohort of mid-cap industrial winners in electronics, capital goods, specialty chemicals and power equipment which had little listed representation four years ago.
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Aggarwal points to capital goods, manufacturing, healthcare, defence, consumer discretionary and financial services as the new hunting grounds for foreign money. “To understand the sharp decline in FII ownership in large blue-chip stocks, one first needs to look at the broader context of overall foreign institutional ownership in India,” said N. ArunaGiri, CEO of TrustLine Holdings. “FII ownership in Indian-listed equities has fallen to a fourteen-year low of around 14.7%, compared to nearly 18% levels seen a few years ago. At the same time, India’s weight in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index has sharply declined from over 20% about two years ago to over 12% currently.”ArunaGiri argues the retreat from blue-chips is less about a deliberate pivot to broader Indian markets and more about a larger global reallocation trade. “What has effectively played out is a reallocation of FII capital away from India towards markets such as Taiwan and Korea, where compelling AI-led investment narratives have emerged — especially semiconductor chips. The changing weights within the MSCI EM Index reflect this trend quite clearly,” he said.
Turakhia explains the macro math by pointing out that while the Nifty 50 delivered roughly 35% returns in rupee terms between March 2022 and May 2026, the rupee’s 27-28% depreciation over the same period eviscerated those gains for dollar-based investors. “After adjusting for the rupee’s move, cumulative USD returns for FPIs compressed to low-single digits per year, materially underperforming US equities and even US fixed-income assets,” Turakhia said. Over the same period, the S&P 500 generated dollar returns exceeding 60%, buoyed by AI-driven earnings resilience, while US Treasury yields moved into the 4-5% range — offering meaningful risk-free dollar returns with no emerging market exposure.
At the same time, sector-specific headwinds compounded the pain in India’s largest stocks. IT — a major Nifty constituent — has corrected 40% amid fears that AI adoption will cannibalize enterprise IT spending. “With Anthropic and OpenAI looking for equity debuts this year, they are aggressively rolling out new products which are likely to impact demand for Indian IT services,” Turakhia noted. Banking, the other heavyweight sector, has also struggled, with HDFC Bank underperforming the broader market in the wake of its merger with HDFC Ltd.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
Investing through SIPs has become one of the most popular ways for retail investors to participate in mutual funds, but challenges such as missed payments, operational hassles, and emotional reactions during market volatility continue to affect investor behaviour. The market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday proposed a framework that could allow salaried employees to invest in mutual funds directly through salary deductions.
Under the proposal, employees would be able to voluntarily opt for SIP deductions from their salary, similar to contributions made towards EPF or NPS. Sebi has proposed permitting employers to deduct money from employee salaries and invest it into mutual fund schemes selected by employees. “The proposal seeks to permit employers to facilitate mutual fund investments on behalf of employees through salary deductions,” the consultation paper said.
For many new investors, the biggest hurdle is not willingness to invest but navigating operational processes such as KYC, mandate setup, bank linking, and remembering SIP dates.
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Expert Rajesh Minocha, a Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Founder of Financial Radiance shared with ETMutualFunds that salary-linked SIPs can significantly simplify this process for first-time investors as a common challenge for newcomers is operational inertia, including setting up mandates, tracking deadlines, and maintaining sufficient bank balances.
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“Seamlessly mapping SIPs to payroll would make investing similar to EPF contributions. This approach could increase mutual fund participation among salaried individuals, especially younger employees beginning their financial journey. However, the biggest challenge I foresee is helping first-time employees choose a mutual fund that aligns with their goals, time horizon, and risk appetite,” he said. Minocha also said that even those with financial knowledge often struggle to choose the right mutual fund, with more than 2500 options across 50+ AMCs and 40+ categories. There will be a need for handholding, or else the investments can backfire if they do not understand the inherent risk. If employees get an initial bad experience in this industry, it will be difficult to get them back. Suranjana Borthakur, Head of Distribution & Strategic Alliances at Mirae Asset Investment Managers, shared with ETMutualFunds that it has a genuine chance to and the reasoning is straightforward and the single biggest barrier for a first-time mutual fund investor isn’t awareness or even willingness; it’s the activation energy required to open a folio, complete KYC, set up a mandate, and make that first investment. Each of those steps is a dropout point. “Payroll SIPs collapse that journey significantly. The employer handles the deduction, the AMC handles the allotment, and the employee simply opts in. That is structurally similar to how most Indians encountered their first systematic savings product through EPF, where the default was participation rather than opt-in. Behavioural research consistently shows that defaults drive adoption far more effectively than education campaigns,” Suranjana said.
Suranjana further said that FY26 already demonstrated that disciplined, systematic investing works at scale SIPs held firm through a volatile year and crossed Rs 32,000 crore a month. Payroll SIPs could extend that discipline to the next cohort of investors who are salaried, financially capable, but not yet engaged with the mutual fund ecosystem. The simplification is real, and for first-time investors specifically, it could be the most consequential change in distribution in years.
One of the biggest concerns for the mutual fund industry has been rising SIP stoppages, especially during periods of market volatility when investors panic and discontinue investments.
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The SIP stoppage ratio is the number of discontinued SIPs compared to the number of new registered SIPs. If this ratio crosses 100% then it indicates that more mutual fund SIPs are being stopped than the ones started. However, one must keep in mind that stoppage ratio also includes those SIPs that have expired. Besides, investors may have simply switched from one SIP to another as part of their portfolio reshuffle.
Experts believe salary-linked investing may help address this issue by creating an automated and less emotionally driven investment process.
Suranjana said potentially yes and the mechanism is worth understanding clearly. SIP stoppages during volatile periods are rarely a considered investment decision; they are most often a friction response. An investor sees a negative return, feels uncertain, logs into their app, and cancels. The path of least resistance leads to stoppage.
Payroll SIPs automatically deduct investments before salary is received, similar to EPF contributions, which may help investors stay disciplined and reduce impulsive SIP stoppages during volatile markets. However, the impact on overall stoppage ratios may be gradual as adoption is expected to scale up slowly over time, she further said.
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Minocha said that this setup can likely reduce SIP stoppage ratios, particularly during market volatility and direct salary deductions make investors less likely to pause SIPs in response to short-term market fluctuations.
Automated and disciplined investing has proven effective in fostering long-term wealth creation. However, ongoing investor education is essential so employees understand market volatility and avoid reacting to every downturn, Minocha further said.
Can payroll-linked SIPs boost monthly SIP inflows?
India’s SIP inflows have already crossed record levels over the last year. Monthly mutual fund SIP inflows declined to Rs 31,115 crore in April compared to a record high of Rs 32,087 crore seen in March, a 3% month-on-month drop.
Experts believe salary-linked investing could create an entirely new channel for steady and sticky retail flows. Minocha said over time, the impact on monthly SIP inflows could be significant. India’s large salaried population already contributes regularly to EPF and NPS and even a small percentage adopting payroll-linked SIPs would create a steady monthly flow of funds into mutual funds.
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He further said that more importantly, this could expand participation beyond metro areas and attract first-time investors to the financial ecosystem in a disciplined manner.
Suranjana said the potential is meaningful, though the near-term impact should be viewed realistically rather than extrapolated too aggressively, India has approximately 6 crore EPFO-registered employees across listed and large corporates the initial eligible universe under this proposal and even modest penetration within that base could add materially to monthly SIP flows over a 3–5 year horizon
She further said that payroll SIPs would add an institutionally facilitated channel on top of that, with structurally lower dropout risk. If 10% of eligible employees eventually participate with an average SIP of Rs 3,000 per month, that alone represents an incremental Rs 18,000 crore annually a conservative but illustrative estimate. “The larger impact, however, may not be in the numbers themselves but in the quality of flows stickier, more consistent, and less correlated with market sentiment which would strengthen the overall stability of the SIP book over time.”
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Will employees have flexibility to pause or stop SIP deductions?
A key concern around salary-linked investing is whether employees would retain full control over their investments and will employees be forced to take this deduction? According to the Sebi consultation paper, no employees will not be forced to participate. The proposal states that only “interested employees” can opt into such salary-linked investments. The arrangement would remain voluntary.
Suranjana said flexibility and voluntary participation are foundational to making this proposal work well and the draft circular’s framing is appropriately clear on this, the proposal explicitly states that only interested employees may opt for such an arrangement and must actively agree to salary deduction for MF schemes of their choice and this is an opt-in structure, not a mandate.
“On modification and exit flexibility the framework will need clear operational guidelines from AMFI, particularly around how quickly employees can pause or stop deductions, and how that instruction flows from the employee to the employer to the AMC.” Ensuring that exit is as frictionless as entry is as important as the onboarding design itself. Investors who feel locked in tend to become dissatisfied investors and for a first-time investor, a bad early experience with the product can set back engagement for years, she further said.
To this Minocha said according to Sebi’s proposal, employee participation will remain fully voluntary. Employees can opt in, select their preferred scheme, and should have the flexibility to adjust, pause, or stop SIP deductions as needed.
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This flexibility is important, as personal financial situations can change over time. Additionally, keeping investments in the employee’s name provides an important investor-friendly safety net and added reassurance, Minocha further said.
Can salary-linked SIPs become as popular as EPF or NPS?
Many employees make monthly investments in EPF or NPS. The EPF contribution is deducted from the salary whereas NPS contribution is made by the employee. Experts believe payroll-linked mutual fund investing has the potential to become mainstream over time, although it may evolve differently from retirement-focused products like EPF and NPS.
Minocha said that in the long term, salary-linked SIP investing could become mainstream, though it may not initially reach EPF levels since EPF is mandatory and SIPs are voluntary.
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As financial awareness and equity participation grow, payroll-linked SIPs could become a popular long-term wealth creation tool in India. However, experts caution that proper investor education and flexibility will be crucial, as a one-size-fits-all approach may not suit every investor’s risk profile and financial goals, he further said
Borthakur pointed out that unlike EPF or NPS, mutual funds offer greater flexibility, liquidity, and investment choice. “For younger salaried investors saving for goals like buying a house, children’s education, or long-term wealth creation, payroll SIPs may actually become a more relevant product,” she said.
She added that while reaching EPF-scale adoption may take time, payroll-linked SIPs could eventually become a natural complement to existing retirement and savings products for salaried Indians.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)
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If you have any mutual fund queries, message on ET Mutual Funds on Facebook/Twitter. We will get it answered by our panel of experts. Do share your questions on ETMFqueries@timesinternet.in alongwith your age, risk profile, and twitter handle
Being one of the talk-of-the-town technologies, AI still remains a controversial topic. While some platforms reap plenty of benefits from AI, others become completely out of the game. Why does it happen?
Actually, there is no direct answer to this question. Typically, the first thing that comes to mind as an obstacle is budget. Of course, implementing AI tools doesn’t come cheap; even with a solid budget, you still can fail without proper knowledge on how to employ these tools for better outcomes.
Another important factor to shine in the AI era is understanding your platform’s real value. You see, if you have a portal that allows some content generation, whether text or images, what do you think, would people choose your tool or prefer to sort things out with ChatGPT or any other relevant AI tool?
The second option looks more realistic, right? Now imagine having a platform with real user data, daily workflows, direct relationships, and so on. None of these could be simply replaced by AI. Instead, AI can be used to elevate your services.
You probably feel the difference now. Now, let’s dive into our article and find out more reasons why some platforms are getting killed in the AI era, while others keep shining.
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Why Are Some Platforms Getting Killed in the AI Era?
We briefly touched upon one core reason why platforms fail in the AI era offering something that AI can simply do on its own. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
You still can fail with a solid platform in place if you refuse to adapt to AI. Take SEO, for example. For years, platforms relied heavily on search engine optimization to drive traffic and stay visible. Yet now many start to question, will AI kill SEO?
Let’s be honest, SEO won’t remain the same as we know it today. It’s already been heavily redefined by AI. Generally speaking, implementing AI tools into your SEO platform is not an option anymore. Only this way can you streamline data analytics, predict trends, optimize content, and create relevant strategies, helping client webpages appear in the AI-generated answers.
With that being said, old-school SEO methods fail. If not employ new ones, then your clients will most likely switch to competitors that offer AI-driven solutions.
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Making Your Platform Outshine in the AI Era
Well, by now you understand that AI is not an optional choice to make your platform outshine — it’s a necessity. The question is how to implement it to achieve better outcomes.
You need a clear business strategy. This will help you understand market specifics, your finances, and where exactly AI fits into the picture. That’s because implementing AI without a proper plan may lead to wrong tools and features that your users don’t actually need. Working with a business plan preparation firm can help you map things out properly before making costly moves.
Now, let’s have a look at the core types of platforms that AI actually can’t replace, yet can significantly streamline.
Support Daily Workflows
If you have a platform that assists people in organizing their daily workflows, they will hardly switch to AI tools instead of your platform. However, it is crucial to combine your platform with some AI features.
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Take My Hours, it is a treasure trove for remote teams that need tools to log their working hours and report task progress. This makes the entire workflow transparent and measurable for managers.
AI can elevate the performance of such platforms by automating report generation or sending reminders to those who forgot to log their hours. Moreover, AI can detect urgent tasks and notify employees about their deadlines, ensuring projects will stay on track.
Strengthen Marketing Activities
When it comes to marketing initiatives, AI can handle plenty of individual tasks, such as writing copy, analyzing data, and generating ideas. But running a full marketing strategy? That still requires solid platforms that can organize smooth collaboration with clients and keep everything in one place.
Email marketing
Take email marketing tools, for example. They are priceless in organizing smooth connections and establishing ongoing communication with customers. Adding some AI features to this type of platform, like follow-up automation, smart audience segmentation, predictive send times, and personalized content suggestions, can make them even more priceless.
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One of the best examples of such a platform is Sender. It assists in every stage of email marketing, from content creation to automated sending and follow-ups. And all of this could be done within one system.
Referral Marketing
Another marketing channel worth mentioning is referral platforms. They are in high demand today, and that is for good reasons. They assist in smoothly organizing end-to-end referral campaigns, from creation and tracking to rewarding.
One of the good examples of this end is Referral Rock. It automates the entire referral program and handles everything from tracking referrals to managing rewards. Obviously, AI can’t replace such platforms; instead, it can make them more competitive.
Invest in Reliable Infrastructure
Though AI is a pretty strong tool itself, it still needs a solid foundation to operate. So, some platforms will remain irreplaceable and even a must in the AI era.
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One of the vivid examples of such platforms is hosting. Even a well-designed architecture with AI at the forefront can’t go far without hosting platforms in place. This makes hosting platforms one of the most essential players in today’s tech landscape.
With that being said, if you have a hosting platform, then you can definitely secure a spot in the AI competitive landscape. Just one thing — your platform should be secure, stable, and come with high speed. These are crucial factors for each robust hosting platform. A good example here is UltaHost, which checks all these boxes, offering reliable and fast hosting solutions that keep AI-powered platforms running smoothly.
Final Notes
Probably, it is now clear what kills platforms in the AI era and what doesn’t. The key here is investing in the right services that can’t be fully replaced with AI tools, but can be streamlined by implementing innovations. Opt for competitive services and craft AI implementation strategies, so you can reap the maximum benefits of this powerful technology.
Cllr Robert Francis-Davies ‘was always full of ideas and plans and played a huge part in the development of Swansea’
Richard Youle Local Democracy Reporter
13:58, 25 May 2026
Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, pictured in 2020(Image: WalesOnline/ Gayle Marsh)
Politicians in Swansea have paid tribute to long-serving councillor and cabinet member Robert Francis-Davies, who died this month, describing him as an oracle, mentor and friend with a mischievous side to him.
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Cllr Francis-Davies served as a Labour councillor from 1983 onwards and held many roles, including deputy leader, and followed in his brother John’s footsteps in becoming Lord Mayor of Swansea in 2001.
Speaking at a meeting of full council, Cllr Peter Black, on behalf of the Liberal Democrat and Independent group, said Cllr Francis-Davies had taken him under his wing when the duo were on a committee which had to determine a contentious sex shop licence application many years ago.
(Image: Swansea Council )
He said Cllr Francis-Davies insisted they focused on the merits not the morals of the case.
“He was Swansea through and through,” said Cllr Black. “He was always full of ideas and plans and played a huge part in the development of Swansea. He was a creative force for good.”
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Cllr Black said Cllr Francis-Davies – a loyal Swansea City fan – once told him he’d deliberately chosen his seat behind the opposing manager at what was then the Liberty Stadium so he could give them a bit of stick. “That was also Robert through and through because he also had a mischievous side to him, didn’t he?” he said.
“I counted him as a friend, and I think all of us here counted him as a friend,” said Cllr Black. “He leaves behind him a huge gap.” Never miss a Swansea story by signing up to our newsletter here
Cllr Lyndon Jones, leader of Swansea Conservatives, said he’d known Cllr Francis-Davies for a long time before he was elected in 2017. “We were good friends, we had good chats,” he said. “To me he was ‘Mr Swansea’. Think of the air show and all the other big events – they were down to him, driving it forward. I was very, very sad indeed when I heard about his death.”
Uplands Party leader Cllr Peter May said the revamp of many Swansea playgrounds in recent years was one of Cllr Francis-Davies’s “finest achievements”. He said he had also been instrumental in pushing through investment in skate parks. “We will miss him dearly,” said Cllr May. “He was very jocular, as well as a sage.”
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The most personal tribute came from council leader Rob Stewart, who at one point had to pause and take a deep breath.
He said R-FD, as many knew him, was a “true one-off”. Several tributes he’d read, said Cllr Stewart, referred to Cllr Francis-Davies as “a true Swansea statesman”. He said Labour councillors called him “the oracle” because of his knowledge of Swansea and “phenomenal” powers of recall.
He said Cllr Francis-Davies liked to embellish some of his stories, including telling a group of visitors to the Mansion House when he was Lord Mayor that a particular painting had inspired singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh to pen his hit Lady in Red. Something seemed to stick and Cllr Stewart said a couple of years later another Lord Mayor of Swansea was telling the same story.
“I’m personally better for knowing Robert and a better politician for having known him,” said Cllr Stewart. “Rest in peace RF-D, you’ve done your job.”
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Cllr Francis-Davies, who had been battling cancer, was cabinet member for investment, regeneration, tourism and events although he had taken a leave of absence due to his ill health. He was also a past executive member of the Museums Association and chairman of the Council of Museums in Wales. He died aged 78 at his home in Uplands on Friday, May 8.
Councillors expressed their condolences to his wife Suzanne and family. His funeral takes place at 1pm on May 27 at Swansea Minster.
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