Top fund houses post healthy AUM growth

Assets under management (AUM) of mutual funds climbed to a record of around Rs 16 lakh crore during the quarter ended September. AUM grew 12 per cent from Rs 14.41 lakh crore the previous quarter amid a sharp rally in the equities market and softening of yields in the bond market. For the first time, two MF houses crossed the Rs 2-lakh-crore mark.

ICICI Prudential MF maintained its top position for the third quarter in a row with an average AUM of Rs 2.16 lakh crore. It is followed closely by HDFC MF, which had an average AUM of Rs 2.13 lakh crore during the quarter. ICICI Pru MF had overtaken HDFC MF during the March quarter. However, the gap between the two remains narrow. Both continued to post double-digit growth in AUM, despite having large assets base.

There was also no among the five largest fund houses. Birla Sun Life MF, the fourth largest, grew the fastest with about 13 per cent growth during the September quarter.

The top five players - ICICI Pru MF, HDFC MF, Reliance Nippon MF, Birla Sun Life MF and SBI MF - together manage assets worth Rs 9.1 lakh crore, 57 per cent of the sector's total. With continuous flows of money from domestic investors over the past two years, officials are confident that the sector will soon reach the Rs 20-lakh-crore mark. The number of investor folios totalled 50 million. Of every five folios, four are in the equity segment.