MF industry registers highest average assets under management since May '10

The average assets managed by the Indian Mutual fund industry rose to Rs 7,865 billion for the quarter ended Dec '12, the highest for this industry in the past two and a half years, i.e. since May '10 when the industry had assets worth over Rs 8,000 billion.

A majority of these assets, however, are accounted for by the corporate money, in liquid and debt schemes which had seen inflows of close to Rs 89,000 crore and Rs 81,000 crore respectively during April to November '12 period.

In so far as the Equity schemes are concerned, the investor confidence is yet to gain momentum as this category witnessed net outflows of over Rs 10,784 crore from April - November last year.

Notwithstanding the recovery in the equity markets and a fairly good year, 2012, for the mutual funds industry in terms of performance per se, this industry has seen an exit of close to 20 lakh retail investors or retail equity folios during March - September '12 period.

The exit of retail investors at a time when the equity schemes were actually making a turnaround also means that these investors have missed out on the equity rally of 2012. While the Sensex and the Nifty generated returns ranging from 25-27% during the year, the mid and small cap category of schemes delivered close to 41% returns on an average last year. Large cap schemes too, have on an average, generated over 26% gains last year.