Expense Account, Mint
When U.K. Sinha took over as the capital markets regulator in February 2011, there was a pervasive expectation that the upfront commissions embedded in the price of a mutual fund would be back. His UTI Mutual Fund (UTIMF) and Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) stints were taken as an indication that he would be more “reasonable” than his predecessor, C.B. Bhave, who banned loads in mutual funds, stunning the then Rs 6.1 trillion industry. The presence of the load—an invisible payout from the investor’s money at entry or exit—has been proved to encourage sales of the heaviest load products and churning (when the seller moves money in and out of financial products to harvest the charge sitting in the product), both of which are harmful to the investor.