Retail assets under management jumps 46% last fiscal

The top 10 players within the industry accounted for 86.7% of the overall growth in retail assets under management during the year

MUTUAL FUNDS

THOSE INVOLVED in the business of mutual funds have acknowledged a growing participation of retail investors over the last two to three years, and a look into the growth of retail assets under management (AUM) data over the last one-year, confirms the same. According to the data prepared by Prime MF Database, the retail AUM for the industry (both equity and debt) jumped 46 per cent from Rs 2,62,710 crore in March 2016 to Rs 3,82,393 crore in March 2017. Though a part of this growth was on account of performance of equity and debt markets, it can majorly be attributed to fresh inflows. In the last one-year period, Sensex rose 17 per cent and the income funds generated an average return of 9.5 per cent.

In the financial year 2016-17, while the net inflow across mutual fund schemes stood at a high of 3,43,049 crore and the industry AUM rose 42 per cent from Rs 12.32 lakh crore in March 2016 to Rs 17.54 lakh crore in March 2017, the retail AUM rose by 46 per cent or Rs 1,19,683 crore to Rs 3,82,393 crore. All investors whose cumulative investment in mutual fund is less Rs 5 lakh are categorised as retail investors and the investments are classified as retail AUM.

The growth in retail AUM, however, varied across mutual funds and more retail-focussed fund houses saw higher growth in their retail AUM. While the top 10 players within the industry accounted for 86.7 per cent of the overall growth in retail AUM during the year, the biggest rise in percentage terms was witnessed by DSP Blackrock MF. The biggest growth in absolute terms was witnessed by Reliance MF.

The retail AUM of DSP Blackrock MF jumped 71.5 per cent during the year from Rs 9,090 crore in March 2016 to Rs 15,589 crore in March 2017. The next in line was Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund whose retail AUM grew 58.7 per cent from Rs 17,902 crore to Rs 28,405 crore.

In absolute terms, Reliance MF was the biggest gainer and its AUM rose 18,606 crore or 54.6 per cent from Rs 34,050 crore in March 2016 to Rs 52,656 crore in March 2017.

HDFC Mutual Fund continued to be the biggest fund house in terms of retail AUM as it had an average AUM of Rs 54,408 crore as of March 2017. It is followed by Reliance Mutual Fund, UTI Mutual Fund and ICICI Prudential MF, that occupied second, third and fourth spot.

Over the last three years, retail investors have entered mutual funds in a big way and while the net inflow into equity schemes of mutual funds in the same period stood at Rs 1.95 lakh crore, that into income funds and balanced schemes aggregated to Rs 1,39,246 crore and Rs 66,179 crore respectively. The net inflow into equity-linked savings schemes over the last three years amounted to Rs 17,880 crore.