I had a similar experience with ICICI - the branch in Jayanagar, 3rd Block, Bangalore. Mr. Ravi Ranjan and Preeti told me that we would be investing in mutual funds, not in a life insurance program. They specifically stated that the fees would be 0.9% and 1.35%. What they failed to mention was that 0.9% was monthly and at the end of the 5 years (during which time I could not withdraw the funds), I would have lost 55% of my investment to this fee alone. Luckily, I had a cousin who had some knowledge of this program and I called to cancel this investment. They took advantage of the fact that we wanted to invest in India, that we were in a hurry and returning back to the US in a couple of days. I was quite distraught at my own idiocy and dismayed that a reputed bank would scam its customers in this way. My foolishness included signing forms without reading them, and signing over a blank check to ICICI Prudential with the amount to be filled in later. I did all this very uneasily but they mentioned names of people we knew and I thought I was being unduly suspicious. Please be aware that in general, non-resident Indians (who are not citizens of India and who do not have an address in India) cannot invest directly in mutual funds, only though insurance plans that have enormous fees.
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