Mutual Fund asset base swells despite see-saw in equities

Average assets under management (AAUM) of fund houses touched the Rs 13-lakh-crore mark in the July-September quarter as investors continued to enter mutual funds despite volatile equity markets.

All the top 10 fund houses registered rise in their assets while UTI Asset Management Company (AMC) entered the Rs 1-lakh-crore club.

According to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), in the July-September quarter, the total AAUM of 43 fund houses stood at Rs 13,15,759.98 crore against Rs 12,28,521.08 crore in the April-June quarter, a surge of 7.1%, or Rs 87,238.90 crore. HDFC AMC continued to retain the top slot at Rs 17,08,37.65 crore, while ICICI Prudential AMC stood at the second position with an AAUM of Rs 16,46,28.50 crore during July-September.

Dinesh Kumar Khara, MD & CEO, SBI AMC, said: “While markets have remained volatile in the last few weeks, investors have continued to invest in mutual funds. Retail investors have understood that it’s always better to come through the MF route rather than going directly into equity markets. We have seen flows in both debt and equity at our fund house.”

SBI AMC’s AAUM for July-September quarter was Rs 88,627.99 crore, a growth of around 6% compared to the April-June quarter.Despite the surge in assets in the industry, JPMorgan AMC saw its AAUM dip 15% to Rs 12,455.17 crore in the July-September quarter. Market participants say this could be due to outflows from its debt schemes hit by the Amtek Auto crises. In the overall industry, five houses — mostly in the mid- and small-size segemt —  saw fall in their assets in the quarter.

“With a rate cut, debt funds looks attractive at this point of time and we don’t see any reason why investors will stop investing in the mutual funds. So, we would continue to witness inflows,” added Khara. Among the top 10 fund houses, UTI AMC and Kotak Mahindra AMC registered growth in double digits. UTI AMC saw its assets rise 12.24% to Rs 104077.40 crore whereas Kotak Mahindra AMC saw a surge of 17.54% to Rs 56,510.78 crore.