Average AUM surges to record high of Rs 14.4 lakh cr

Buoyant inflows in equity and short- maturity debt funds lifted average assets under management of the country's mutual funds (MFs) in the quarter ended June to a new record and above the Rs 14 lakh crore mark for the first time, says a report.

At Rs 14.41 lakh crore, average AUM beat the previous high of Rs 13.53 lakh crore logged in the previous quarter and was up by 6.47 per cent or Rs 87,583 crore, also a record in absolute gain-over the quarter, a report by Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) said.

It said equity funds' AUM spurted 7.59 per cent or Rs 33,418 crore to a record Rs 4.74 lakh crore. Robust inflows of Rs 9,159 crore (April-May data) and mark-to market gains as the equity market, as represented by the Nifty 50, gained over seven per cent in the quarter, helped.

Short-term debt funds saw assets swell by Rs 10,005 crore to a new high of Rs 1.60 lakh crore, way above the Rs 1,525 crore growth seen in the preceding quarter. Ultra short-term fund assets rose Rs 13,997 crore to Rs 1.47 lakh crore, after a decline in the two preceding quarters, it added.

Liquid fund assets made a new peak of Rs 3.42 lakh crore with a gain of Rs 19,575 crore, after having risen Rs 28,270 crore the previous quarter.

As per the report, income fund assets shrunk Rs 35.81 billion, lower than the decline of Rs 57.37 billion seen the previous quarter to Rs 938.73 billion.

Gilt fund assets lost a record Rs 21.03 billion to Rs 152.07 billion, breaking the uptrend since December 2014, it said.

Assets of fixed maturity plans (FMPs) increased for the third quarter on the trot, up Rs 122.44 billion at Rs 1.43 trillion, after having run up Rs 114.44 billion and Rs 53.06 billion, respectively, in the two preceding quarters because of MTM gains and stable demand.

In April-May, fund houses garnered Rs 19.39 billion by launching 22 FMPs compared with Rs 182.49 billion through 105 FMPs launched the preceding quarter.

Gold prices, as represented by Crisil Gold Index, rose over 8 per cent. Gold ETF assets gained 1.04 per cent, or Rs 0.66 billion, to Rs 64.01 billion. However investors chose to book profit as seen from outflows of Rs 1.48 billion in April-May 2016, the report noted.

Average AUM of direct plans rose to a new high of Rs 5.35 trillion, up 8.06 per cent, or Rs 399.08 billion. The share of direct plans in overall AUM inched up marginally to 37.12 per cent from 36.57 per cent the preceding quarter.
Of the 42 fund houses which have declared average AUM, 31

logged growth. The share of the top five and top 10 rose to 57 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively, from 56 per cent and 80 per cent in the preceding quarter.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund remained at the top slot in terms of assets, with a gain of 9.90 per cent, or Rs 174 billion, to Rs 1.93 trillion, AMFI said.

HDFC Mutual Fund came a close second, just Rs 5 billion behind the leader, with a jump of 9.67 per cent, or Rs 170 billion.

Reliance Mutual Fund maintained its third position with Rs 1.67 trillion, up 5.43 per cent, or Rs 86 billion.

Assets of industry heavyweights-ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund (in this order)- rose the highest in absolute terms, AMFI said.