India’s Market regulator, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has decided to waive entry load for direct applications for mutual fund investments. The progress follows a proposal made by SEBI a few months back to waive entry loads on direct investors in mutual funds.

The mutual fund investors will be exempted from payment of entry fee on applications which are received through the Internet, directly submitted to AMCs’ or to the collection centre/investor services centers that are not routed through any distributor, agent or broker, SEBI stated in a release.

The investors switching from one scheme to another while dealing directly with the AMC will also be exempted from paying any load, it added.

The Mutual funds generally charge about entry load of 2.25 % on one-time investments made directly or through distributors. But with the introduction of new norm, an investor will not have to pay the entry load of 2.25% for equity funds unless he avails the services of a distributor.

Market regulator said that the exemption would apply for investments in existing schemes with affect from Jan. 4, 2008 and in new scheme to be launched thereafter.