New Delhi, Dec. 24 -- Some ideas look compelling on paper, but execution is a challenging task. A similar challenge is likely to surface in the Association of Mutual Funds in India's (Amfi) plan to train one lakh postmen to sell mutual funds (MFs).

The appeal is obvious. Who doesn't want to tap into India Post's vast network-one that has nearly seven times the number of branches (1.6 lakh) as the State Bank of India (SBI), the mutual fund distributor which reaches the most people in the country. It is early days, and even though Amfi is trying to make this work, it's an uphill task, say experts.

The main challenge is training the postmen to sell riskier products. Till now, postmen have focused on selling capital guarantee products like ...