MITRA Platform

MITRA Platform Latest News

Recently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India introduced a new digital platform called MITRA.

About MITRA Platform

• Mutual Fund Investment Tracing and Retrieval Assistant (MITRA) will assist investors in tracking and reclaiming inactive or unclaimed mutual fund folios.
• Objective: The objective of the platform is to encourage investors to search for forgotten MF investments and update KYC as per the current norms.

MITRA Platform Features

• The platform addresses a growing concern wherein investors, over time, lose track of their mutual fund investments lack of updated contact information, or unawareness of investments made in their name.
• It will allow investors to identify the overlooked investments or any investments made by any other person for which he/she may be rightful legal claimant and also encourage them to do KYC as per the current norms thus reducing the number of non-KYC compliant folios.
• It is developed by the Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTAs) to provide investors with a searchable database of inactive and unclaimed mutual fund folios at an industry-level which will empower the investors.
• The criteria for classifying a folio as inactive include an absence of investor-initiated transactions, financial or non-financial, for a period of ten years, despite having a unit balance.
• Sebi has also revised the mandate of the Unit Holder Protection Committee (UHPC) under Mutual Funds rules.
• The UHPC will now be responsible for reviewing inactive folios along with unclaimed dividends and redemptions, ensuring proactive steps are taken to reduce such cases.

MITRA Platform FAQs

Q1: What is meant by mutual funds?

Ans: A mutual fund is a pool of money managed by a professional Fund Manager. It is a trust that collects money from a number of investors who share a common investment objective and invests the same in equities, bonds, money market instruments and/or other securities.

Q2: Who is the registrar and share transfer agent?

Ans: Registrar and Transfer Agents (RTA) are SEBI-registered entities that provide services related to share registry maintenance and share transfer activities on behalf of companies that have issued shares to the public.

Q3: What does SEBI work for?

Ans: To protect the interests of investors investing in securities, along with regulating the securities market.

Source: TH