MFs' assets up 5.3% in Oct-Dec, highest since September 2010

Average assets under management (AUM) of India’s mutual fund industry have risen to its highest since September 2010. Thanks to the inflows into income and gilt funds, the sector posted a gain of 5.3 per cent in its AUM in the October-December quarter at Rs 7.87 lakh crore.

Ever since industry body the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) started declaring AUM data on a quarterly basis in September 2010, fund industry at large has been doing good in terms of asset growth. Moreover, assets gain in the December quarter was the third consecutive quarterly rise in mutual fund assets.

According to a report by Crisil, long-term debt and gilt funds reported a sharp rise in their assets in the December quarter due to inflows led by expectations that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) would lower its key interest rates in the near future. The RBI, in its policy review of December 2012, had mentioned that the recent ebbing in inflation rates reinforced its guidance for policy easing in January-March 2013.

ON A GOOD NOTE Category-wise average AUM (Rs cr)
Mutual fund categories	Oct-Dec 2012	Jul-Sept 2012	Change	Change %
Equity	210,700	202,300	8,400	4
Money market	171,700	178,000	-6,300	-4
Ultra short term	112,800	115,000	-2,200	-2
Short term debt	59,100	41,300	17,800	43
Long term debt	63,200	390,00	24,200	62
Gilt	4,800	3,300	1,500	45
Fixed maturity plans	109,300	119,000	-9,700	-8
Other debt-oriented	39,100	35,200	3,900	11
Gold ETFs	11,700	10,600	1,100	10
Others	4,100	3,600	500	13
Total	786,500	747,300	39,200	5
Source - CRISIL Mutual Fund Database

Equity assets, the segment which has been avoided by investors for long, witnessed a growth of four per cent to Rs 2.11 lakh crore in the quarter. Despite continuous outflows, equity assets managed to grow on the back of post-September upward move in the stock markets.