LIC Mutual Fund looks at 40% growth in AUM in 2017-18

LIC Mutual Fund is eyeing a 40 per cent growth in its assets under management (AUM) during 2017-18 and looking at investors from small towns, a company official said on Thursday.

"We had AUM of about Rs 25,000 crore in 2016-17 and are looking at Rs 35,000 crore in the current fiscal," company's Chief Marketing Officer Rajesh Patwardhan said here.

Currently, retail accounts for just 35 per cent whereas the lion's share of 65 per cent of the AUM is accounted for by the institutional investors.

The fund house aims to grow its retail business.

"We have laid the foundation of alternate business programmes and channels and now we will be building on this," he said.

In a bid to grow the retail business, the mutual fund is eyeing at B-15 (beyond the top 15 cities) investors.

"Our objective is to move more into B-15 because that is the place which has not even tasted equity. These B-15 customers are more habituated to regular flow of money through savings products. They want regular income. Currently, B-15 contributes 16 per cent of our retail assets and the objective is to take it to 20 per cent," Patwardhan said.

Patwardhan said the objective is to push the equity funds but with an understanding that this is a high-risk asset and one would have to stay invested for a longer duration to receive benefits from the investments.

LIC Mutual Fund garners Rs 16 crore monthly from 62,000 SIP accounts and it plans to increase it to Rs 30 crore a month from one lakh of these accounts in 2017-18, he said.

The company filed for a new short-term product and intends to file an arbitrage fund soon.

"We are looking at launching credit opportunity fund as credit scenario improves," he said.

He said demonetisation benefitted the mutual fund industries and the overall situation for investing in mutual funds became better.

--IANS

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