Mutual fund assets up 11% on strong debt flows in 2013

MUMBAI: The mutual fund industry’s assets under management (AUM) jumped nearly Rs 85,000 crore, or about 11%, to Rs 8.78 lakh crore in 2013 from a year-ago period on strong flows into debt schemes as investors cashed in on a high interest-rate scenario, according to the latest data available with the Association of Mutual Funds in India or Amfi.

But equity mutual funds continued to be a drag as investors preferred to stay away from stock markets due to high volatility.

“One of the challenges the industry is facing is fresh equity inflow into mutual funds, which has been negative over the last 10 months. There has been an outflow of about Rs 10,000 crore year-to-date till November 2013.

However, the industry is at an all-time high in terms of asset under management (AUM) as most of the flows have come into liquid funds,” said Milind Barve, managing director, HDFC Asset Management in a recent interview to ET.

Of the 44 fund houses, 26 saw their AUMs rise during the period, while 17 witnessed a decline.


Among the large funds, ICICI Prudential MF was the biggest gainer followed by Reliance MF, while HDFC MF saw the smallest growth. In terms of total funds, HDFC MF managed to retain the top slot, followed by Reliance MF and ICICI Prudential. HDFC MF had an average AUM of about Rs 1.09 lakh crore at the end of 2013, a 7.5% rise from the preceding year.

ICICI Prudential’s AUM rose over 19% to Rs 97,200 crore, while Reliance MF’s AUM climbed 13% to Rs 1.02 lakh crore. Besides, Reliance MF has surpassed Rs 1-lakh crore mark after a gap of two quarters.

UTI, SBI, Axis, Baroda Pioneer, Birla Sun Life and Franklin Templeton were among the gainers. However, Canara Robeco, Goldman Sachs, Edelweiss, IDBI, Indiabulls Mutual and Tata Mutual Fund saw a decline in their AUMs from the levels seen in 2012.

In 2013, the overall AUM increased on strong inflows in categories such as bonds and liquid funds, industry estimates show. This was the second consecutive yearly rise in the MF industry AUM, after a drop in the asset base in the two preceding years.