MFs see highest growth in assets from hinterland in FY17

Sustained awareness campaign and investor education, lower appetite for FDs cited as growth drivers

The Rs 18-lakh crore mutual fund (MF) industry is seeing encouraging growth from the hinterlands. Despite low financial literacy, several smaller cities and towns have bettered the overall industry growth rate during 2016-17.
 
Sources attribute the growth in smaller cities to a continuous rise in awareness programmes and investor education. They add given the unattractiveness of other financial avenues like bank deposits, investors are increasingly shifting towards MFs. States like Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Jammu and Kashmir reported asset growth of 50-70 per cent, albeit on a low base. In comparison, overall industry assets grew 37