Retail rush takes MF investor accounts to record 4.59 crore in 2015

MUMBAI: India’s mutual fund industry recorded the highest-ever growth in investor folios in 2015 over the previous year led by increased participation by retail investors. The number of folios as on December 31 was 4.59 crore, up 13.8 per cent over the previous year as retail investors poured money into equity schemes amid the frenzy in the stock market.

Out of the total folios, the retail count was 4.37 crore, an increase of 13 per cent or 50.69 lakh folios from December 2014, according to Crisil Research. Retail investor folio additions, however, in October-December were lower than that in the September quarter.

In 2015, BSE Midcap Index rose about 7.4 per cent, and Smallcap Index 6.7 per cent compared to the 5 per cent drop in the Sensex, which consists of the country’s top blue-chips.


Folio additions by High Networth Individuals (HNIs) crossed the 17 lakh mark, up over 5 per cent from the previous quarter, said Crisil. The segment recorded an absolute rise of nearly four lakh folios in 2015 and 0.88 lakh in the December quarter. The folio count of corporates too rose 6 per cent to end at 4.38 lakh folios in October-December. Corporates, however, continued to dominate the mutual fund Assets Under Management (AUM) with 48 per cent share as on December 31. HNIs were the second-biggest contributor with 28 per cent share. The retail segment’s share in total mutual fund AUM remained steady at 22 per cent, the credit ratings agency said. Debt oriented folios grew by 5.76 per cent to 67.53 lakh as on December 31 from September 30.

While rich investors continued to invest in equity and debt oriented schemes, their investments in balanced mutual funds also picked up. HNI equity oriented folios were 8.56 lakh in December while debt oriented folios were 6.66 lakh during the same period.