If you’re looking to invest in mutual funds in India and want to save on commission by investing in direct plans, there are several free apps available to help you. It’s important to note that even a 1% difference between direct and regular plans can have a significant impact on your long-term investment goals. But which is Best app for doing Mutual fund investment in Direct plans.
Which app is best for direct mutual fund investment in India?
Answer: According to experts, the top 5 apps for direct mutual fund investment in India are Groww, ET Money, Paytm Money, Zerodha Coin, and Kuvera. Each of these apps offers unique features and benefits, so it’s important to do your research and choose the one that best fits your investment needs.
After trying multiple apps like moneyfront, paytm, etMoney, Grow, and Kuvera, I have settled on Kuvera as my preferred choice. However, the decision ultimately rests with you. If you find my review helpful and decide to sign up with Kuvera, please consider using my referral URL to support this blog. I have also used NJ and ICICI Direct in the past, as well as the online portals and apps of individual mutual fund houses.
After trying multiple apps such as moneyfront, paytm, etMoney, Grow, and Kuvera, as well as using online portals and direct paper work from various mutual fund houses, I have settled on Kuvera as my preferred app. However, the choice is ultimately yours. If you find my review helpful and decide to sign up for Kuvera, please consider using my referral URL to support this blog.
So What is Kuvera?
In nutshell, Kuvera is a SEBI registered investment adviser. from Arevuk Advisory Services Pvt Ltd (tradename: Kuvera). They have tie up with almost all Mutual Fund houses which means you can invest in any mutual fund available in India from a single app.
They have both website version as well as app version and all the features are available in both app as well as website.
Is Kuvera Free?
Mostly yes. I am now using Kuvera Mutual Fund App for more than one and half year now. All the normal features of investment, SIP, reports, portfolio are free at least till now.
They do offer features like Tradesmart and Tax Harvesting with added fees but those are optional and you can live without them for normal usage. More on these later.
Kuvera also rewards investors. There are various reward actions like investing Rs 5000/-, creating goals, importing your portfolio, add SIPs etc. You can use these coins in exchange to activate paid features like say Tax Harvesting.
What is catch here? 1 coin seems to be equivalent to Rs. 1/- but we can not redeem it as cash. We can only use it to activate any of the paid features.
Important features in Kuvera Mutual Fund App
First and foremost, you can do all basic tasks of lumpsum investment, SIP (Systematic Investment Plan), redemption, STP (Systematic Transfer Plan), SWP (Systematic Withdrawal plan), adding bank accounts from this app. No cost or no indirect fees. All absolutely free.
But just basic investing in Mutual fund is small part. Let us see what other features Kuvera has that separates it from competition.
Some of Kuvera’s useful features are below.
Tradesmart
SaveSmart
Goal based investment
Family account
Managed account
ITR filing and buying term plan feature
Tax Harvesting
Loyalty Program
Kuver Gold
Multiple bank accounts
Stocks import
STP on weekly basis
EPF ImportI
nvesting in FDs
..update on 24 May 2021Easy Loan against your Mutual Funds
After regular use, I feel I can give them **** (4 star) for all the features like Tradesmart, Savesmart, weekly SIP, family account and managed account.
Registration / Sign up with Kuvera Mutual Fund Platform
As with any app, first step was to sign up with Kuvera Mutual Fund platform. Website or mobile app, process is same.
Since all my mutual fund folios are linked with my gmail id, I used sign up with Google option. I suggest you also follow same for convenient sign up.
Since this is one time activity, You will need to carry out below steps:
- Verify KYC – PAN, DOB, Mobile details
- Update address
- Provide soft signature on screen
- Your investment profile
- Bank Account details
- Nominee
Overall it took less than 10 minutes and process was smooth and without any hiccups. I do not want to bore you with details. I suggest you this section for now. You should visit this section only when you have decided to download and use Kuvera and need some assistance.Setting up Kuvera
Overall registration process was smooth and in line with other competitors. What I liked is flow of overall steps. It went in a logical sequence. So if you ask my rating for overall registration process its ***** 5 stars.
Let’s move on to next step…Portfolio
Importing your portfolio in Kuvera Platform
If you already have mutual fund investments, first thing for you is to get all existing investments imported in Kuvera Mutual Fund app. Just two steps – 1) request the consolidated statement as per their instructions and 2) email them or upload it in app. Done!Want to know more?
Here too I will give ***** (5 star) to the import process but I would have given same to other apps as well. Basically Kuvera is on par with its competitors.
Portfolio representation in Kuvera Mutual Fund App
Every app has different way of representing your portfolio. In Kuvera app, there are three things – Portfolio Details, Overview and Compare. Lets see each of them.a) Portfolio Detailsb) Overviewc) Compare
Overall I am happy with the different views that Kuvera portfolio provides and insights are quiet useful. I would rate it overall ***** (4 star). One star less for portfolio details not mobile friendly. Hope they are reading and will address same.
Reports in Kuvera App
Again Kuvera hits the nail on head. What report would retail investor need ? Transaction history, Capital gains (short and long term) and ELSS investment proof. All three are available.
Good point is that Kuvera provides financial year wise reports for capital gain for last three financial years (even if you join now).
It has a very simple interface. Not many search / filter criteria but reports have details that add value. Worth signing up just to get these reports if you do not have a CA for tax calculation.
I rate **** (4 star) for reports.
Transaction Management
Kuvera offers all the transaction types to perform. You can select your fund and invest more / start SIP/ STP/ SWP or you can go for all together new fund. In case you already have a folio in that fund house, it will list all of them to choose from, give option to select new or set particular folio as default.
It also has shopping cart type experience. In case you want to invest in more than one fund at a time, you can keep adding details and proceed to pay when choices are complete. Payment is possible via netbanking or NEFT or UPI.
I tried SIP and STP via Kuvera. Both work as a charm. Especially very happy for STP being able to do on weekly basis. I did not see such small duration in other apps.
Mutual Fund Selection
As you can see from below screen, one can choose from their top rated, our own choice, ELSS, funds with insurance, liquid funds which offer faster redemption or new funds. So overall most of the funds are available.
Starting SIP / SWP / STP is as straight forward as lump sum. You can quickly edit all of them like changing amount, stopping etc.
One caution though, you need to do edit around a week before SIP/SWP/STP date. When Corona crisis came, one of my client wanted to stop the SIP but he could not do so as next SIP was due in 2 days.
Kuvera? Are you reading? Please fix this. We are living in world of instant gratification. A week is too long.
Overall no complaints or lack of features for transaction management. So rating **** (4 star)
Is Kuvera Mutual Fund App Safe?
Hmm. I not authority to guarantee that. But what is good for you to know is money that we invest does not go to bank Kuvera account at all. Same with redemption. Money transaction happens between Fund house and investor. When I invest, money goes to Fund House and when I redeem, money directly comes to my bank account.
No Kuvera intermediate account. That gave me sense of comfort. If god forbid, something happens to Kuvera, my entire investment is with fund house. I can use any other app or directly redeem from fund house.
Customer Support of Kuvera Mutual Fund App
We are dealing with money here. So good customer support is a must. I had instance where one of my investment in L&T Hybrid fund got reversed. I had to work with L&T support and Kuvera support to get it sorted.
Experience was good. On next day of filing query, Kuvera responded with “Looking into” type mail and started investigation. If I remove delay from my side in providing bank statement etc, query was addressed in 3 days with few email exchanges.
They went to the extent of triggering my fund statement from L&T Mutual Fund and providing me with details. So it was good experience. I would give ****( 4 star).
Reason for one star less is that since its money matter, I would have been more happy if someone would have called me to understand issue and giving me assurance instead of just to and fro in mails.
Not all people are techy to always deal in emails. Human voice helps to calm people.
Things Kuvera Mutual Fund App should improve on
- App Login time – At times it takes some time (5-7 seconds) to login into app and dashboard coming up. Some work here will give better user experience.
- Goal Based recommendation is poor to say least about it. I could not find any logic of funds suggested to my goals.
- They should avoid non investment features like filing IT returns.
Before we conclude, Note on other contenders
- Groww
Groww is a popular app for direct mutual fund investments. It offers a user-friendly interface and allows investors to invest in mutual funds without any paperwork. The app also provides personalized recommendations based on the investor’s risk profile and investment goals. - Paytm Money
Paytm Money is a well-known app for direct mutual fund investments. It offers a simple and easy-to-use interface and allows investors to invest in mutual funds without any commission. The app also provides a portfolio tracker and personalised recommendations based on the investor’s risk profile. - Zerodha Coin
Zerodha Coin is a popular app for direct mutual fund investments. It offers a wide range of mutual funds from various asset management companies and allows investors to invest in them without any commission. The app also provides a portfolio tracker and personalized recommendations based on the investor’s risk profile. - ET Money
ET Money is a comprehensive app for direct mutual fund investments. It offers a wide range of mutual funds from various asset management companies and allows investors to invest in them without any commission. The app also provides a portfolio tracker, personalized recommendations, and financial planning tools. - MyCAMS
MyCAMS is a popular app for direct mutual fund investments. It offers a wide range of mutual funds from various asset management companies and allows investors to invest in them without any commission. The app also provides a portfolio tracker and personalized recommendations based on the investor’s risk profile. - Scripbox
Scripbox is a user-friendly app for direct mutual fund investments. It offers a wide range of mutual funds from various asset management companies and allows investors to invest in them without any commission. The app also provides a portfolio tracker and personalized recommendations based on the investor’s risk profile. Additionally, Scripbox offers a unique feature called “Goalwise” that helps investors plan and achieve their financial goals.
Conclusion
Overall I would rate Kuvera platform as 4 star portal / app. Signing up is smooth. Portfolio import is simple. Transacting is straight forward.
Overview of investments gives good insight. Simple and useful reports are there.
You can manage folios (hide that are not in use etc). There are small small features which overall make it a very good portal / app.
I have used multiple platforms before settling down with Kuvera. Currently it is the best free direct mutual fund platforms available in India according to me. But do let me know which app you use and if it is better than this.
Is there a catch then? In one and half years, I have not seen any pattern to extract some money or fees indirectly. I don’t know their revenue model and how they make money. May be things like loan against mutual funds or Kuvera Gold has some commission for them. But why do I care as long as I am getting good experience free of cost.
Personally I am using it as my primary app for all Mutual Fund investments. So if you ask my personal opinion, its Best App for Direct Mutual investment for me. Of course, you should do your own research and then decide.
That’s all on Kuvera app. If you use mobile apps for investments, do check out All Apps I have reviewed.
If you find my review helpful and decide to sign up for Kuvera, please consider using my referral URL to support this blog.
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