ORO is India’s First Zero Commission Investment Platform.
ORO will provide an online platform for transacting (purchase, switch, redeem) in Direct Mutual Funds across multiple Mutual Fund houses (Asset Management Companies or AMCs) in a single transaction.
Every Mutual Fund scheme has 2 kinds of plans through which you can invest:
Direct Plan and Regular Plan.
Direct Plans have higher returns because of lower ‘Expense Ratio’ as compared to the Regular Plan in the same scheme
The reason is Direct Plans pay zero commission to the distributor vs. Regular Plans which pay significant commission.
Hence, the Mutual Fund is able to offer higher returns to a Direct Plan investor (zero distributor commission pay out) vs. Regular Plan Investor (higher distributor commission pay out).
Direct Plan and Regular Plan are two plans of the same Mutual Fund Scheme. There is only 1 difference between the two plans: Expense Ratio.
Every other scheme characteristic such as Investment Objective, Asset Allocation Pattern, Investment Strategy, Risk Factors, Fund Manager, Facilities Offered, Terms and Conditions including Exit Load Structure will be the same.
You may invest in Direct Plans in the following ways:
However, if investors use the online platforms provided by distributors they are not considered as a direct investment. Such online platforms ensure you invest in Regular Plans (commission plans) and not in Direct Plans (zero-commission plans).
Expense Ratio, in the case of Direct Plans is lower as distributor commissions are eliminated. The difference in returns of Direct Plans and Regular Plans is approximately ~1%.
The savings from switching to Direct Plans can be higher if the underlying investments are in Equity oriented schemes.
Yes. Since there is a difference in the Expenses charged (also known as Expense Ratio) by the Direct and Existing Plans under every scheme, there will be a difference in the NAVs for both these Plans.
No, the scheme portfolio will be the same for both Direct Plans and Regular Plans.
No, scheme characteristics such as Investment Objective, Asset Allocation Pattern, Investment Strategy, risk factors, facilities offered and terms and conditions including load structure will be the same.
In case of investments that are locked for redemptions such as ELSS funds etc.; you can switch-out / redeem after the lock-in period is completed.
No. You have to submit a written request for the same. This can be done via ORO. Such a request has to be submitted at least 15 days prior to the next instalment date. Intervening instalments, if any, will continue to be processed under the "Existing Plan"
You have to cancel the existing registration and register afresh into the "Direct Plan".
The word “DIRECT” is clearly mentioned in the name of the scheme. Always ensure that you are investing or switching into “DIRECT PLANS” only.
Just investing online does not ensure it is Direct Plan investing. In fact, many online brokers charge you upfront “Brokerage” in addition to earning commissions from your investments. So always check: The name itself will have the word ‘Direct’ in it. If it does not have; then it is not a Direct Plan.
Such investments will continue to be under the “Existing plan”.
In case you wish to transfer them to the Direct Plan of the same scheme, you may submit a switch request. Such switches will not be subject to exit load. However, investors should consult their professional tax advisor before initiating such requests.
Since the application was received on or after 1-Jan-2013, the units will automatically be allotted under the corresponding “Direct Plan” at the applicable NAV.
No. ORO is an online-only platform. This helps us to keep our costs low and provide you the best possible service efficiently. However in case you face any problems while transacting with ORO, be rest assured that help is quickly at hand. You can contact us 24x7 at Contact US
Any individual (Resident Indian or NRI) can purchase, switch or redeem with ORO. We will be enabling non-individual access soon. Please write to us on connect@orowealth.com if you are a non-individual and would like access to ORO.
ORO has been built by a team of experienced finance professionals with over 17 years of experience in Indian and international financial markets. We aim to bring good-quality and unbiased advice that was till today restricted only to large institutions and HNIs.
You can find more about us here .
You will be required to submit a switch request for transferring of units from “Existing plan” to “Direct Plan”.
Please note that such switches will entail exit load. Investors should consult their professional tax advisor before initiating such requests.
For your investments which were routed through a distributor whether before or after January 1, 2013, any switch-out of these units from Existing Plan to Direct Plan of the same / other Scheme / Plan shall be subject to applicable exit load, if any.
For your investments which were made directly i.e. without any distributor code, exit load will not be levied on switch-out of units from Existing Plan to Direct Plan of the same Scheme/ Plan.
No exit load shall be levied in case of switch of units from Direct Plan to Existing Plan of the same Scheme/Plan. However, any switch-out or redemption of such investment from the Existing Plan shall be subject to exit load based on the original date of investment in the Direct Plan.
In case of SIPs/ STPs (Fixed or Capital Appreciation) registered prior to January 1, 2013 without any distributor code under the “Existing Plan”, instalments triggered on or after January 1, 2013 will be processed under the “Direct Plan”. The terms and conditions of the existing registered enrolment shall continue to apply.
No. You have to submit a written request for the same. The request format is available with our Investor Service Centres (ISCs) and on our website. Such a request has to be submitted at least 15 days prior to the next instalment date. Intervening instalments, if any, ill continue to be processed under the “Existing Plan”.
You have to cancel the existing registration and register afresh into the “Direct Plan”.
Such investments will continue to be under the “Existing plan”. In case you wish to transfer them to the Direct Plan of the same scheme, you may submit a switch request. Such switches will not be subject to exit load. However, investors should consult their professional tax advisor before initiating such requests as there could be capital gains/loss on the switch out leg (sale leg) of the transaction.
The NAV for the switch-in scheme will be as on the same date as that of the switch-out scheme.
The criteria of NAV applicability will remain the same as applicable for existing plans of the schemes.
Yes, in this case, the request will be processed for units in the Existing Plan.
If you wish to submit a redemption / switch-out request for units in the Direct Plan, “Direct Plan” must clearly be mentioned on the request.
In this case, you have to submit 2 separate redemption / switch-out requests, one for each plan.
No, you may invest / switch the minimum additional application amount for investing into the direct plan of the scheme.
Since the stock exchange platforms necessitate routing transactions through distributors, these platforms cannot be used for investing in the direct plans. However, investors holding units in the DEMAT mode can redeem units in these plans from their DEMAT account using the stock exchange platforms.
Since the NAVs in the direct plan and existing plan of a scheme are different, requests for addition / deletion of broker code cannot be processed. You will have to submit a switch request from the existing plan to the direct plan.
ORO is the first platform in India to offer online access to Direct Mutual Funds as compared to other online platforms which offer only Regular Plans. Every mutual fund has two plans: direct and standard. Direct plans have higher returns because of lower expense ratios. Expense ratio is lower as distributor commissions are eliminated. So unlike other platforms, ORO does not earn any commissions from your investments.
ORO is committed to making your experience as seamless in a Direct Plan as it was when you were in a Regular Plan. ORO will offer you institutional level support that is guaranteed to enhance your investment experience AND reduce your expenses. The value added services we offer are as follows:
All this is provided along with great customer support and service.
Any investments that you make through ORO, are made directly with the mutual fund in your name. Money also flows directly from your account to the AMC account and is not handled by ORO at any time in the process. So, irrespective of what happens to ORO, your investments will remain intact and can be managed even outside of ORO (See how you can verify investments made with ORO). Having said that, we sincerely believe that ORO is here for the long run, and our investors do not need to worry on this count at all.
Direct plans are 1-2% cheaper compared to regular plans. A difference of 1-2% may not look too high at the first glance. However it should be remembered that these commission are charged every single year. With the power of compounding, the difference in returns can be substantial for long term investors. How significant can this difference be?
You can also buy direct funds directly from the AMC websites. However to buy funds in this way you need to maintain a separate account with each AMC with whom you want to transact. ORO allows you to deal with multiple AMCs conveniently in a single online transaction.
When you transact with ORO, all your investments are made in your name directly with the mutual fund (See how you can verify investments made with ORO). Money also flows directly from your bank account to the Mutual Fund collection account. ORO does not handle your money at any point in the process and provides your transaction with Bank level security at all points of time.
Your ORO account is protected by the best tools that ensure that all your transactions always take place in a reliable and secure manner. Our services are hosted in a top-security data centre. All our investors’ data is backed up daily and stored in a continuously replicated model. Network communication with browsers are protected with a 256-bit encryption, using a GoDaddy issued security certificate.
Every distributor / intermediary (except those who charge a fee from you directly) earn commissions from your investments. They earn these commissions for as long as you remain invested (not one-time, but EVERY YEAR) in that scheme via the Regular (commission-based) route.
To know a list of intermediaries and how much they have earned in the form of commissions and expenses; please refer to this link .
Mutual fund distributors clocked a staggering income of Rs 4,729 crore in 2014-15, a surge of 84% from Rs 2,572 crore in 2013-14 and Rs 2,367 crore commission paid out to distributors in 2012-13. AMFI discloses commissions of those MF distributors who meet any of the four criteria -- presence in at least 20 locations or manage assets of at least Rs 100 crore, or should have received commissions worth a minimum of Rs 1 crore from all MFs collectively, or received above Rs 50 lakh from one fund house. In case your distributor is not on this list, you may contact him directly and verify the commission he has received from mutual fund houses (AMCs)
No. It takes just 5 minutes of paperwork and 1 click to switch.
Yes. 1% per annum compounded over 5-10 years can make a significant difference to your returns. To give you an idea, on a total investment amount of 10 Lakh Rupees, this amount is 1.05 Lakh Rupees!! And how long does it take to make the switch? Just 5 minutes.
Expense Ratio is the fees charged by the Mutual Fund (AMC) for operating the scheme. These expenses include Investment Management fees, Distributor Commissions for selling the scheme, costs related to providing accounts statements, dividends, redemptions, custodial fees, audit and other Misc. Expenses. Higher Expense Ratio = Lower In-hand returns for the investor
ORO Wealth provides you a convenient online platform to buy Direct Plans of multiple mutual funds in a single transaction. You can also switch your existing investments in Regular Plans to Direct Plans. For these services, we charge a small fixed one-time convenience fee of Rs 50 per transaction, irrespective of the amount transacted. This is charged upfront and is known to the user. There are no other hidden commissions/fees received by ORO Wealth.
In fact we also have many early bird discounts, which you can avail to reduce your convenience fee to Rs 0 and transact absolutely FREE.
You can also visit the link given below for more detailed information on pricing here .
We understand that you are legitimately concerned about sharing private information such as your PAN number with us. However we would like to assure you that we have only asked for the minimum information required by SEBI and the AMCs from any financial intermediary, whether offline or online, to transact in MFs. Your PAN number will be used for unique identification and your Bank Details are needed to be linked to your mutual fund account. Similarly information like Gross Annual Income, Primary Source of Wealth are now necessarily required by SEBI for any financial transaction (as per FATCA compliance). Don’t worry, your data is 100% secure with us. Please refer to our data privacy policy for more details .
We totally get it! Filling long forms is boring and we do realize that the registration process at ORO is longer than what you are used to for non-financial websites. However, please rest assured that we have made our best attempt to keep the form as short as possible by collecting only the necessary information as required by SEBI and AMCs. We would also like to stress that choosing investments is one of the most important decisions in your life and one that will be a significant factor in determining the future well-being of you and your family. It does deserve 10 minutes of your time today. These 10 minutes today can save you up to 5-10% in returns over the next 5 years.
ORO is India's first zero-commission investment platform. This means ORO is the first online platform which allows individual investors to buy zero-commission products; such as Direct Plans of Mutual Funds (which do not include distributor commissions) from multiple mutual fund companies (AMCs) in one transaction. You can also switch your existing investments in Regular Plans to Direct Plans. For these services, we will charge a small, one time convenience fee. Please click here for more details on pricing.
In addition, ORO Advisory, to be launched soon, will provide customized and simple-to-follow financial advice to retail investors (currently available only to high net worth individuals - that's jargon for billionaires - and large institutions). ORO will help you achieve your life’s personal goals (buying a home, family holiday, education, marriage, retirement or just building your wealth) through goal oriented financial planning.
The time stamping for online transactions would be our server timings upon submission of transaction by you. In case payment is made through Net Banking the time stamp would be upon successful confirmation of payment.
All current rules with regard to NAV applicability shall apply to the transactions done online through ORO.
In case of subscription transactions where the availability of funds for utilization / time of credit is considered for applicability of NAV, the time of credit of funds to the AMC accounts will be considered as the time of credit for NAV applicability.
Cut off time for same day NAV is 3.00 P M. (for Equity & Debt Schemes) All instructions received on transaction day before the cut off time will be eligible for same day’s NAV (except non business days). For transactions post cut off time, NAV of the next business day will be applicable. However, for Debt-Liquid Schemes, previous day NAV will be applicable before the cut-off time of 2:00 pm.
For subscription transactions, the funds are credited to a common collection escrow account and thereafter transferred to the respective Scheme accounts in proportion to the investments made in respective schemes by you.
In case of net banking payments or NACH/ECS/Direct Debit mandates, the escrow account will be credited not less than T+1 business/working day wherein T refers to the payment initiated day. Funds will be transferred to the AMC Accounts upon receipt in the escrow account. The time of credit to respective AMC Accounts shall be considered for NAV applicability, wherever applicable.
All credits received into the common collection escrow account before 1.40 p.m. (for scheme cut-off of 2.00 p.m.) and 2.40 p.m. (for scheme cut-off time of 3.00 p.m.) will be transferred to the Scheme accounts by 2.00 p.m. and 3.00 p.m. respectively. In respect of credits to the escrow account between 1.40 p.m. / 2.40 p.m. to the respective cut-off times, funds will be transferred to the Scheme accounts on a best effort basis.
Please refer to our Terms and Conditions for more details.
There is no minimum amount required by ORO to use the platform. The minimum amount is determined by the scheme you decide to invest in. This minimum amount varies from scheme to scheme.
ORO will launch a fee-based advisory service soon. By using a fraction of what you save in going Direct (by not paying commission), investors can now get fee-based, unbiased advice.
Fee-based advisory is the norm among High Net-worth Individuals and the standard across the world. Please register here to know first about when we launch the advisory and also receive early bird discounts.
Existing investments cannot be transferred automatically under the Direct Plan, since plans are available for fresh / new investments only. Existing investments would continue to be a part of the existing scheme and you can switch them into the Direct Plan. Please note that such switches may entail exit load / tax consequences which need to be considered and understood before proceeding.