Unclaimed mutual fund money rises 10% in FY26; AMCs hold over Rs 3,811 crore in unpaid dividends, redemptions: Sebi

Unclaimed money in mutual funds has surged by nearly 10% from Rs 3,452 crore in 2024-25 to Rs 3,811 crore in 2025-26, due to an increase in unclaimed dividend amount and a marginal dip in unclaimed redemptions, according to the annual report by Sebi.

The report shows that unclaimed redemption amount of mutual funds declined by 1% from Rs 1,128 crore at the end of 2024-25 to Rs 1,122 crore at the end of 2025-26. Meanwhile, the unclaimed dividend amount registered an increase of 16% reaching Rs 2,689 crore in 2025-26 from Rs 2,324 crore in 2024-25.

A key reason for unclaimed dividends and redemption proceeds is outdated investor contact and bank details. Investors may change their phone number, email address or residential address without updating the information with the AMC or registrar.


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As a result, payout notifications and credit instructions may not reach them. In some cases, redemption or dividend payments may also be returned because the bank account linked to the folio has been closed or changed without updating the mandate. SEBI and AMFI urge investors to check fund house websites or MITRA, an industry-wide platform to trace inactive and unclaimed mutual fund folios.

During 2025-26, total gross resource mobilization by mutual funds climbed by 14.9%, although a concurrent 16.5% rise in liquidations/redemptions caused overall net inflows to decline by 9.7% to Rs 7.4 lakh crore.

The annual report by Sebi also highlighted that passive investment instruments witnessed sustained traction, as the number of registered index funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) advanced significantly, drawing total net inflows of Rs 2.1 lakh crore.

Net allocations into gold ETFs surged 4.6 times to Rs 68,868 crore, reflecting heightened global geopolitical risks and domestic inflation concerns.

Individual investors remained the bedrock of this expansion, holding 97.7% of the industry’s 27.4 crore total folios and accounting for 58.3% of aggregate AUM. This retail momentum was heavily reinforced by systematic investment plans (SIPs), which saw total active accounts rise to 10.45 crore, while the average net monthly SIP contribution advanced by 25.8% to a record Rs 16,413 crore.

During 2025-26, new schemes launched remained almost the same, with 246 schemes at the end of March 2026 compared to 247 last year.

AUM and SIP data

By the end of 2025-26, total AUM of mutual funds grew by 12.2% to Rs 73.7 lakh crore. Open-ended schemes account for 99.7% of total net AUM. Within this category, growth/ equity-oriented schemes led with a net inflow of Rs 3.5 lakh crore, primarily driven by flexi-cap funds (Rs 89,213 crore), small-cap funds (Rs 51,872 crore), mid-cap funds (Rs 51,197 crore), and large & mid-cap funds (Rs 44,306 crore).

In 2025-26, the number of SIP accounts grew by 3.9% YoY, rising from 10.05 crore to 10.45 crore. During this period, 7.2 crore new SIPs were registered, while 6.8 crore were either discontinued or reached maturity. Financial inflows also trended upward, with the average net monthly SIP contribution increasing by 25.8% from Rs 13,052 crore to Rs 16,413 crore.

During 2025-26, the number of unique investors grew by 13.2%, rising from 5.4 crore to 6.1 crore.

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Other initiatives in 2025-26

SEBI through amendments to the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996 and its circular dated February 27, 2025, introduced a comprehensive regulatory framework for Specialized Investment Funds (SIF), a framework designed to bridge the gap between traditional mutual funds and portfolio management services by providing greater portfolio flexibility while maintaining appropriate regulatory oversight.

The market regulator introduced an incentive structure for mutual fund distributors to encourage participation from new women investors (identified via new PAN). Aligned with the B30 incentive framework, this includes a cap of up to one per cent of eligible investments, subject to an overall limit of Rs 2,000 per investor.

As of March 31, 2026, the number of Asset Management Companies (AMCs) registered with SEBI increased to 54, an increase of eight from the previous year. Out of these 54 entities, five belong to the public sector.

The maximum permissible exit load that can be charged on mutual fund schemes has been reduced from 5% to 3%, with such load continuing to be credited back to the scheme for the benefit of remaining unitholders. The scheme categorisation has been updated to simplify product architecture, improve scheme comparability and enhance transparency. The key changes include introduction of sectoral debt funds to support development of the corporate bond market and rationalisation of residual portions across categories to ensure consistency and alignment with scheme objectives.

The introduction of life cycle funds seeks to promote goal-based and long-term investing through a predefined glide path that aligns asset allocation with the investor’s life stage or target date.

With the objective of using valuation which is reflective of domestic market conditions and to ensure uniformity in the valuation practices, it has been decided that physical gold and silver held by mutual fund schemes are now valued based on spot prices published by recognised stock exchanges, replacing the previous reliance on LBMA prices.

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Pursuant to introduction of CAS in the equity cash segment of the stock exchanges, an enabling provision permitting borrowing by equity-oriented index funds and equity-oriented ETFs for participation in CAS was inserted in SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 2026.

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