MFs see AUM drops sharpest since Dec 10 in Q2 on rupee pains

As per AMFI assets under money market and ultra-short-term debt funds declined Rs 41,400 crore, equity funds lost Rs 12,700 crore

Average assets under management (AUM) of mutual funds slipped 4.5% to Rs 8.08 lakh crore in the July-September quarter, making it the sharpest fall since December 2010 due to a fall in money market and ultra short-term fund assets, a Crisil report said today.

"The quarter marked the sharpest fall in mutual fund assets since December 2010 as investor sentiments were hurt due to volatility in equity and debt markets following a weak rupee," the report said.

As per the Association of Mutual Fund in India (AMFI) data, while assets under money market and ultra-short-term debt funds declined Rs 41,400 crore, equity funds lost Rs 12,700 crore during this period.

Out of the 44 fund houses, 34 recorded a fall in their assets during the quarter, the report said.

Interestingly, share of direct plans increased marginally to 26% against 25% reported in the previous quarter.

On the record fall in money market and ultra-short-term debt funds, the report said the fall in assets in these categories was due to increased volatility post the liquidity tightening measures announced by the RBI since mid-July.

However, fixed maturity plans (FMPs) saw sharpest rise in assets since March 2011 quarter with a Rs 14,200-crore rise in assets as yields on government bonds rose post-RBI liquidity tightening measures.

"As many as 159 of the 167 new fund offers (NFOs) launched during the quarter were FMPs against 54 in the previous quarter," the report noted.

Meanwhile, the quarter also saw the equity fund assets witnessing the highest fall in the past seven quarters with a 6% dip in average AUM at Rs 1.86 lakh crore. The fall was led by outflows and mart-to-market (MTM) fall.

During the second quarter, average AUM of gold ETF saw a marginal rise of 1%.

In the pecking order, HDFC Mutual Fund retained its top position followed by Reliance MF and ICICI Prudential MF. However, the top three fund houses reported a fall in their average AUMs during the quarter with ICICI Prudential MF recording the highest fall in absolute terms.

As per the report, while the share of top 10 fund houses was at 79% during the period, the bottom 10 continued to occupy less than 1% of the asset.