A Direct Plan is a version of a mutual fund that you buy straight from the fund house's own website or app, without going through a distributor, bank, or financial advisor. Because there's no middleman earning a commission, direct plans carry a lower expense ratio than the equivalent regular plan of the same fund, which means more of your money stays invested and compounds over time.
Over many years, this small difference in expense ratio — often 0.5% to 1% — can translate into a noticeably larger corpus, simply because less is deducted each year. The trade-off is that you won't get personalised advice or hand-holding from a distributor when you invest directly, so it suits investors who are comfortable doing their own research or who already have a clear investment plan in place.