MF industry's average assets up 2.9% in April

The domestic mutual fund industry registered 2.89 per cent rise in average assets under management (AAUM) in April as compared to March.

According to statistics from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), the industry (with 38 players) had AAUM of Rs 7.69 lakh crore in April, as against Rs 7.47 lakh crore in March.

Of the top five fund houses, only UTI Mutual Fund saw a dip, of 0.95 per cent. The largest fund house, Reliance Mutual Fund, saw average assets rise 1.27 per cent to Rs 1.11 lakh crore from Rs 1.10 lakh crore in the previous month. Similarly, average assets of HDFC Mutual Fund were at Rs 94,702 crore, a rise of 6.67 per cent.

ICICI Mutual Fund and Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund saw their assets rise 2.53 per cent and 11.49 per cent to Rs 83,035 crore and Rs 69,508 crore, respectively.

A Balasubramaniam, CEO of Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, said, “We saw good inflows into the income fund segment. I believe the segment will grow, as there is a necessity to take a long duration portfolio.”

However, experts refuse to term April numbers as growth. “This is simply somebody’s losses resulting into somebody’s gains,” said an industry observer.

Though industry’s AAUM grew a little less than 3 per cent in April on a month-on-month basis, they clocked a rise of 40 per cent on a year-on-year basis. In April 2009, the industry’s average assets were Rs 5.5 lakh crore.

Chief investment officers (CIOs) in the industry said capital markets globally were more stable now than they were a year ago. “This is likely to result in better inflows into the equity segment. At the same time, inflows in the fixed-income segment may double this year,” said a CIO.