Mutual funds add 67 lakh folios on higher retail participation

Huge inflows in equity schemes have also contributed to the upside

Mutual fund houses have registered a surge of over 67 lakh investor accounts during the first 11 months of the just-ended financial year, taking the total tally to a record 5.4 crore on growing interest of retail investors.

This has already topped 59 lakh folios additions made in 2015-16. In the last two years, investor accounts have increased following robust contribution from smaller towns.

Folios are numbers designated to individual investor accounts, though an investor can have multiple ones.

According to the data from Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) on total investor accounts with 43 active fund houses, the number of folios rose to a record 5,43,87,930 at the end of February, from 4,76,63,024 in the end of March 2016, a gain of 67.25 lakh.

Growing participation from retail investors, especially from smaller towns, and huge inflows in equity schemes have contributed to the upside, experts said.

The equity category saw an addition of more than 40 lakh investor folios to 4 crore in April-February period of 2016-17. Mutual funds have reported a net inflow of Rs 62,151 crore in equity schemes during the period under review.

Mutual funds are investment vehicles made up of a pool of funds collected from a large number of investors. The funds are invested in stocks, bonds and money market instruments, among others.