Panic was reported among some mutual fund (MF) investors, especially those who had put money in debt schemes, after Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund scrapped six of its debt fund schemes on Thursday.
Together, these funds had roughly ₹30,000 crore in assets, recovering even a fraction of which will be an arduous task for their unit holders.
The closure can be pinned on a market crisis in high-yield/low-rated bonds, which have few takers amid covid-led risk aversion, and heavy redemption pressure on such schemes.
But the event had left investors in all MFs nervous. Might other schemes go the same way? Industry associations have been at pains to portray it as an isolated case and proclaim the safety of MFs in general, but a lot of investors