ICICI Prudential joins Rs 1-trillion club; HDFC retains top slot

With a strong growth of about 22% in its asset base, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has joined the Rs 1 lakh crore club while HDFC MF has retained its top slot with a slender margin of about Rs 6,000 crore.

The total asset base of the entire mutual fund industry grew by over Rs 40,000 crore during the last fiscal to about Rs 8.6 lakh crore at the end of the financial year 2013-14, shows the latest data complied by AMFI (Association of Mutual Funds in India).

HDFC MF has retained its top position with average AUM (Asset Under Management) of Rs 1.13 lakh crore, while ICICI Pru MF saw its asset base grow by industry-best rate of 22% to over Rs 1 lakh crore for the first time ever.

ICICI Pru's average AUM stood at Rs 1.07 lakh crore in the last quarter of 2013-14, as against about Rs 87,000 crore a year ago. Birla Sunlife also recorded a strong growth of over 15% in its asset base.

In the top-league, HDFC MF and ICICI Pru are followed by Reliance MF (Rs 1.03 lakh crore), Birla Sunlife (Rs 89,000 crore) and UTI MF (Rs 74,000 crore) in terms of average AUM in the last quarter of 2013-14.

Besides, Baroda Pioneer MF posted a rise of Rs 803 crore, or 11%, in its assets base, to Rs 8,106 crore.

Among these, HDFC MF has seen its average AUM rise by about Rs 12,000 crore, ICICI Pru (Rs 18,000 crore), Reliance MF (Rs 9,000 crore), Birla Sunlife (Rs 12,000 crore) and UTI MF (Rs 5,000 crore) in absolute terms.

However, the total average AUM of the entire industry, comprising of nearly 45 fund houses, fell in 2013-14 from the preceding fiscal, mainly on account of fiscal-end redemption pressure.

Moreover, mutual fund industry has lost an estimated over 29 lakh investors, measured in terms of individual accounts or folios during the current fiscal, mainly due to profit-booking and various merger schemes.