Mutual fund (MF) industry's assets base has surged by nearly Rs 3 lakh crore in 2014-15 to become a Rs 12 lakh crore market, mainly driven by a smart rally in the equity market. In fact, the MFs' assets under management (AUM) hit a record Rs 12.02 lakh crore in February itself.
Fund houses are upbeat about the industry's performance for the current fiscal (2015-16) as equity markets are expected to continue their momentum, making the segment attractive, industry insiders said.
In 2014-15, the country's 44 fund houses together saw a growth of 31 per cent in their asset base to Rs 11.88 lakh crore at the end of March 31, 2015, according to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) on Thursday.
The AUM stood at Rs 9.05 lakh crore in preceding fiscal and has been on the rise since 2011-12. The growth in asset base comes on the back of BSE Sensex surging around 25 per cent in the past financial year.
"The impressive growth in asset base is due to improved stock market condition and strong inflows in equity and 'liquid' or 'money market' segment," said SBI Mutual Fund Chief Marketing Officer D P Singh.
"The number of investors has also grown substantially in the past fiscal and a rally in markets and improving economic indicators are expected to result in a much more broad-based participation in 2015-16, especially among retail investors," he added.
However, Amfi's decision to put one per cent cap on upfront commission paid to distributors may impact the sector, industry insiders said.
MFs collect money from investors and later invest the same in various market segments, including stocks, IPOs (primary market) and bonds.
Individually, HDFC MF continued to retain its top spot with an AUM of Rs 1.62 lakh crore, followed by ICICI Prudential MF (Rs 1.48 lakh crore), Reliance MF (Rs 1.37 lakh crore), Birla Sun Life MF (Rs 1.2 lakh crore) and UTI MF (Rs 92,751 crore). The fiscal year, however, saw some exits in the MF space.
Those which have exited include Daiwa, ING, Morgan Stanley, Pramerica, Fidelity and Pinebridge.
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