MF minnows outpace bigger players with robust growth in assets

Outperforming bigger peers, the relatively smaller fund houses including Taurus MF and Sahara MF have witnessed a significant growth in their assets, so far this fiscal.

An analysis of the AUM of the 12 fund houses with assets less than Rs 1,500 crore at the end of March 2009 showed they have witnessed an over 100 per cent increase in the average Assets under Management (AUM) by the end of October.

So far this fiscal, the country's top five houses, led by Reliance MF, witnessed a modest increase in their AUM in the range of 44-61 per cent.

At the end of October the AUM of Reliance MF increased 44 per cent to Rs 1,16,782 crore and HDFC MF's assets increased 61 per cent to Rs 93,316 crore.

The assets of Taurus MF increased nearly sevenfold so far this fiscal to Rs 1,401 crore at the end of October, making it the biggest gainer in terms of percentage growth.

While a lower base is a factor behind the growth rates of small players, analysts believe this should not take away the credit for the success of their new fund offerings.

The AUM of Sahara MF rose over twofold to Rs 344 crore.

"All our equity and liquid funds have recorded a good increase in AUMs riding on the back of new client additions. Even when the markets were under pressure, we maintained consistency in our performance, holding up even in bad conditions," Sahara MF CEO Naresh Garg said.

The country's third-largest fund house ICICI Prudential MF saw 57 per cent increase in AUM to Rs 80,525 crore while UTI MF recorded 58 per cent rise to Rs 76,847 crore, so far this fiscal.

Besides, Edelweiss MF saw its AUM increasing five times to Rs 126 crore, Baroda Pioneer MF saw its AUM nearly trebling to Rs 3,665.67 crore and Morgan Stanley MF's AUM increased 74 per cent to Rs 2,345 crore during the period.

At present, there are over three dozen fund houses in the country, among them only Reliance Mutual Fund has a corpus of over Rs 1,00,000 crore, while that of HDFC MF, ICICI Pru, UTI MF and Birla Sunlife are above Rs 50,000 crore.

The current fiscal saw the average AUM of the MF industry hitting the record high of Rs 7.62 lakh crore at the end of October, while in June Reliance MF became the first fund house to cross the Rs one lakh crore mark in assets.

The said period also saw a new entrant in the industry-- Shinsei --having a corpus of Rs 533 crore.

A number of fund houses, such as Bharti AXA, Edelweiss, Escorts, Mirae Asset, Quantum, Sahara and Shinsei have a corpus of below Rs 1,000 crore at the end of October.