Lakshya Mutual Fund: Lakshya Asset Management Company (Lakshya AMC) has received SEBI approval (Securities and Exchange Board of India) to start the mutual fund business.

The new AMC is sponsored by Wealth First Portfolio Managers Ltd. Wealth First is a publicly listed wealth management company. Its shares are listed on both the exchanges, NSE and BSE.

The SEBI approval to launch mutual fund business marks a significant milestone in its vision to build an innovation-led asset management platform in India.

Lakshya Mutual Fund said that it has onboarded key members of the founding team of Benchmark Asset Management Company: Sanjiv Shah, Rajan Mehta and Sanjay Gaitonde.

They are widely regarded as pioneers of Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in India.

Benchmark AMC introduced several industry-first products, including India’s first ETF, Nifty BeES; India’s first Gold ETF, Gold BeES (World’s First Gold ETF to be filed with regulators); and the world’s first money market ETF, Liquid BeES.

Founded in 2001, Benchmark was also the first Mutual fund in India which focused exclusively on passive and quantitative investment, which is one of the fastest-growing segments today.

The Benchmark AMC product suite was subsequently acquired by Nippon Life India Asset Management from Goldman Sachs Asset Management.

“Our focus in this AMC will be to identify gaps in the investment landscape and build products that effectively address those needs. We believe there is significant opportunity to create differentiated offerings that deliver meaningful value to investors,” Ashish Shah, Managing Director, Wealth First Portfolio Managers, said.

Lakshya Mutual Fund will also become the first asset management company to be headquartered in Ahmedabad.

India’s mutual fund industry has expanded dramatically from about Rs 1 lakh crore in assets under management in 2001 to over Rs 82 lakh crore in early 2026.
 

Zepto Pay Later Option: Zepto has launched a suite of new in-app features. This includes a 'Pay Later' option and real-time images of fresh produce.

Zepto, the quick commerce platform, said that it is shifting its strategic focus from delivery speed to behaviour-led commerce and the new features are part of the strategy.

Zeptosaid that India's quick commerce market is moving beyond the "race to the fastest 10 minutes" to focus on reducing everyday shopping friction and serving customers more intelligently.

Zepto Pay Later Feature

The newly rolled-out 'Pay Later' feature offers a 15-day, interest-free repayment cycle embedded directly within the app. Designed for high-frequency, low-value orders, the facility allows for a one-tap checkout without One-Time Passwords (OTPs) or third-party redirects.

According to the product interface shared by the company, the service provides instant credit of up to Rs 10,000.

"Meet Zepto Pay Later, a BNPL experience built completely inside the Zepto app. Shopping is now going to be smoother than ever. It's already live for a small percentage, and we plan to scale this up to the entire user base very soon," Zepto Co-Founder Kaivalya Vohra said in a post on LinkedIn.

Furthermore, the company has introduced Real Lens – providing users with daily-updated, timestamped photographs of fresh produce from their nearest store, allowing them to toggle between standard catalogue pictures and actual images.

Zepto expects this to bridge the online "trust gap," to achieve higher conversion rates and fewer returns/complaints.

Additionally, the platform has introduced an 'Add After Checkout' function, which enables customers to add forgotten items to an existing order within a specific time window without having to place a duplicate order, while keeping original delivery timelines intact.

Mutual Fund Investment: Capital market regulator SEBI has proposed to introduce gift cards or gift prepaid payment instruments (PPIs) for investments in mutual funds.

SEBI said that the move is aimed at improving financial inclusion as it will help in onboarding of new investors.

As per the SEBI's proposal, the purchaser of Gift PPI can gift the prepaid payment instrument to a recipient. The receiver will use the gift card to invest in a mutual fund cheme.

SEBI has said that a cap of Rs 50,000 per investor should be in place for investments made through gift cards. These PPIs will be funded only through electronic bank transfer or UPI from an Indian bank account with a validity period of one year from date of issuance.

"The RTAs, on behalf of AMCs will track how much each investor has invested per AMC per financial year through Gift PPI, e-wallets and cash. If the transaction resulting from a Gift PPI redemption crosses Rs 50,000, the RTA will reject the transaction, and the PPI face value will be refunded to the issuer's escrow account," it added.

Traditionally, Gift cards and prepaid solutions have been used in retail purchases and over a period of time their adoption has increased driven by digital payments, offering instant delivery and enhanced security.

The consultation paper comes after the Sebi received a proposal from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) to consider allowing Gift PPI as an instrument to invest in units of mutual fund.

According to Sebi, “Gift Card/ Gift PPI is expected to improve financial inclusion through on boarding of new investors in the mutual fund space.”