MF exposure to software stocks climbs to Rs 36,000 cr in Mar

The mutual fund industry has increased exposure in software stocks to over Rs 36,000 crore at the end of 2014-15, up for the third consecutive fiscal, primarily on account of sharp rally in the equity markets.
According to the data available with capital markets regulator Sebi, the funds' investment in software or IT stocks stood at Rs 36,121 crore as on March 31, 2015, accounting for 10.02 per cent of their total equity assets under management (AUM) of Rs 3.6 lakh crore,
This also marks the third consecutive full fiscal rise in the industry investment in software or IT companies.

In comparison, MFs had deployed Rs 24,315 crore in the shares of software companies at the end of March 2014. They had invested Rs 19,196 crore and Rs 18,177 crore in these stocks as of March 2013 and March 2012.
The Indian mutual fund industry has an an AUM of about Rs 12 lakh crore at the end of 2014-15.
As per market participants, MFs have shown interest in software stocks in the past fiscal amid rising equity markets.

They said the ongoing market rally might see mutual fund assets getting diversified.
The IT index surged 40 per cent in last fiscal, while the BSE benchmark Sensex witnessed a gain of 25 per cent.

Mutual fund is an investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.