How to start a Systematic Investment Plan(SIP) online

The new financial year is just around the corner and a lot of investors would be planning new investments this year. While existing investors would be quite familiar with the answer to the question:“what is a mutual fund”, new investors would need some light on the same.

For those new to the investing world, mutual funds are investment vehicles that pool the money of several investors to purchase securities according to the fund’s investment objectives. An individual can invest in mutual funds via the lumpsummethod or through SIP (Systematic Investment Plan).

Though individuals havethe option to choose from any of the two mutual fund investment options, fund experts advise their clients to go with the SIP mutual fund route.

SIP investment is famous for all the right reasons. It is an investment method offered to investors by various mutual fund houses to periodically invest small amounts of moneyin specific intervals on specific dates.

Investing in SIP aids in inculcating a sense of financial discipline among investors as it requires the latter to invest regularly in a mutual fund scheme of their choice. You can choose a mutual fund scheme depending on your risk appetite, financial objectives/goals, and investment horizon.

However, several investors looking to invest in SIP in an equity mutual fund dread the paper- and legwork. Conversely, they are not aware of the fact that they can invest in SIP online and reap the benefits with just a few clicks. This article will focus on how to invest in SIP:

1. Initiate the registration process for SIP
   The first step to investing in SIP online is to open the website of your preferred mutual fund house with whom you wish to invest. The homepage of the chosen website would contain CTAs (call-to-action) with links such as ‘Make a transaction’, ‘Invest with us’, ‘Invest now’, etc.
2. Complete your KYC details
   If you are an existing customer and have completed your KYC (Know Your Customer) with another mutual fund house, your KYC status will show as verified/registered and you may directly skip to the next step. However, if you are investing for the first time, you’ll be asked to complete your KYC process.
3. Provide investment and registration details
   After completing your KYC verification, you need to input further details, as required, to complete the transaction. This includes choosing the desired mutual fund scheme, bank details, investment amount, etc. Further, enter SIP registration details like the date on which SIP investment must be made, frequency of SIP instalments, tenure of investment, etc. You can use a SIP Calculator to calculate the returns you would earn on your SIP investments and also tells you how much you would need to invest every month to earn a target corpus.
4. Register your preferred mutual fund as biller with the registered bank account
   The process for SIP registration does not end here. An electronic clearance (ECS) mandate is also required by the bank to pay the requisite instalments towards SIP investments.

As you can see, investing in SIP online is quite a hassle-free process. So what are you waiting for? Start investing in SIP today. Happy Investing!