Mutual funds' AUM down 2% in Jan-March

The average assets managed by the mutual fund industry declined by over 2% during the January-March quarter with the country's second-largest fund house HDFC MF's assets shrinking by Rs 1,600 crore, compared to the previous quarter.

The industry comprising 41 active players witnessed a decline in their average assets under management (AUM) by Rs 16,457 crore, or 2.43%, as per the data available with industry body Association of Mutual Fund Industry (AMFI).

The combined average AUM of the 41 fund houses stood at Rs 6,58,914.12 crore at the end of March, down from Rs 6,75,372 crore in end-December.

At the end of March, the AUM of the largest MF in India, Reliance MF witnessed a fall of Rs 490 crore to Rs 1,01,576.60 crore.

Also HDFC MF's average assets shrunk by Rs 1,600 crore or 1.81% to Rs 86,282.24 at the end of March. As many as 18 fund houses saw a decline in their average AUMs during the quarter.

However, ICICI Prudential MF and UTI MF bucked the broader industry trend and registered an increase in their AUM.

While ICICI Pru's average asset base rose by Rs 7,625.23 crore or 11.58% to Rs 73,466.10 crore, UTI MF saw an increase of Rs 1,801.58 crore or 2.76% to Rs 67,188.82 crore in end-March.

Similarly, some fund houses like Axis MF, Benchmark MF, Birla Sun Life MF, Fidelity MF, Mirae Asset MF and Pramerica MF among others saw their assets rise in the range of 2-72% during this period.

At the of March Axis MF's assets stood at Rs 8,302 crore (up 65%), Canara Robeco at Rs 7,824 crore (up 6%) and IDBI MF at Rs 3,525 crore (up 72%).

Among the fund houses, which saw their average assets dwindle during the March quarter are LIC MF (decline of 40% to Rs 11,196 crore), Morgan Stanley MF (decline of 12% to Rs 2,076 crore), AIG Global Investment (decline of 10% to Rs 795 crore).