Tendulkar, Dhoni to bat for mutual funds

Mumbai: Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) has brought in cricketing icons Sachin Tendulkar and M S Dhoni as brand ambassadors for the ‘Mutual Fund Sahi Hai’ campaign. Tendulkar, one of the best batsmen ever and Dhoni, a world-cup winning captain for India, have been roped in to help create awareness about mutual funds being the preferred investment option among retail investors, Amfi said.Markets regulator Sebi doesn’t allow individual fund houses to have brand ambassadors, but in 2017 it had allowed the industry as a whole to go for celebrity endorsements. The Tendulkar-Dhoni combine is the first such endorsement for the fund industry.
According to Amfi chairman Nilesh Shah, Tendulkar and Dhoni “evoke unstinted trust and high dependability.” Shah feels the long careers of the two cricketers could be compared to retail investors having a long-term approach towards their investments. “Longer term approach, be it in cricketing career or in mutual fund investments, can deliver rich dividends for cricketers and investors alike,” Shah said.
The hugely successful ‘Mutual Funds Sahi Hai’ campaign was launched three years ago when Aditya Birla MF MD A Balasubramanian was Amfi president. Amfi CEO N S Venkatesh feels that with three years of refinement behind the campaign, the industry trade body felt that the time was right to take the conversation with the retail investors across the country to the next level and hence the cricketing icons were brought on board.
Tendulkar, after signing the deal with Amfi, said that discipline and longer term approach were the cornerstones in achieving success, “be it in any sport and likewise in personal investing.” According to Dhoni, having a goal-based approach, starting early, staying disciplined and not being fazed by volatility are the four mantras that the wicketkeeper-batsman always followed, be it in his cricketing career or in personal money management.