ICICI Prudential MF joins Rs 1-lakh-cr club

Becomes the second-largest fund house in terms of assets managed

After losing out to HDFC Mutual Fund 10 quarters ago, Reliance Mutual Fund has slipped further down to the third position in terms of assets under management (AUM).

This time, it’s ICICI Prudential Fund that has moved Reliance MF from the second slot to the third.

Not only has ICICI Prudential MF toppled Reliance MF but it has also got close to the largest fund house, HDFC MF, by entering the Rs 1-lakh-crore club in terms of assets managed.

During the quarter ended March, while the average AUM of HDFC MF and Reliance MF increased 3.6 per cent and 1.02 per cent, respectively, ICICI Prudential MF took a big leap as its assets managed surged almost 10 per cent to Rs 1.06 lakh crore from Rs 97,190 crore.

Nimesh Shah, CEO of ICICI Prudential MF, said, "If you manage money well and beat benchmarks, assets will increase."

Two factors that helped ICICI Prudential MF gain fast were its fund performance across the board and, in particular, its equity schemes which have gained in size in recent times. Second, its recently closed closed-ended schemes also did well as they could garner a sizeable chunk of fresh assets.

Niranjan Risbood, director (fund research) at Morningstar India, said, “ICICI Prudential schemes on the equity side are gaining investor interest on account of their good performance.” According to Dhirendra Kumar, CEO of Delhi-based fund tracking firm Value Research, "ICICI Prudential has shown substantial improvement in equity funds. On the other hand, Reliance MF's schemes have struggled. Reliance MF has changed strategy, as its focus has shifted from performance to profitability.”

Spokespersons of Reliance Mutual Fund were unavailable for comments.

It is interesting to note that among the top-10 largest fund houses, three registered negative growth in the period. The biggest loser among them was Kotak Mutual Fund, whose average assets managed dipped 7.5 per cent, followed by DSP BlackRock and UTI Mutual Fund, which reported a decline of 3.1 per cent and 0.16 per cent, respectively. Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, the fourth largest fund house, grew 4.76 per cent in terms of assets managed.