Indian mutual funds grows 12.5%

In the last 10 years, India’s mutual fund industry has grown 12.5% annually on average, outperforming the growth clocked by the world and developed regions by more than double, according to a report by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi) and global analytics firm Crisil. During the same period, Asia-Pacific including India, grew at just 8%.

Assets managed by the Indian MF industry grew to Rs.23.96 trillion in July this year, up 17.33% from the previous year. “Around the same time last year, there was a rising equity market, low rates on traditional investment products like deposits, a high decibel investor awareness campaign from Amfi and a fine job from the retail distribution community in bringing investors through the SIP route, all of which contributed towards the growth of the industry,” said Ajit Menon, executive director and chief business officer, DHFL Pramerica Asset Managers Pvt. Ltd.

The growth in MFs also points to various trends domestically.

The share of MFs in the amount flowing into the capital markets through portfolio investments rose to 18.4% in March 2018 from 8.5% in 2014. On the other hand, the share of foreign portfolio investors or FPIs (of the total institutional holding) fell to 56.4% from 61.8% of market capitalisation during the same period.

“During the period, domestic investors became bigger than before, particularly after demonetisation. Due to fall in interest rates, investors moved to equities from fixed-income assets. So the impact or mix of FPIs lowered,” said S. Krishnakumkar, chief investment officer, Sundaram Mutual.