MFs' AUM from B15 towns rises 38% to Rs 3.8 lakh cr

The contribution of the country's smaller towns -- known as beyond-15 cities (B15) -- to mutual funds' assets base reached to Rs 3.8 lakh crore at September- end, a sharp surge of 38 per cent from the year-ago level.
Mutual Funds' assets under management (AUM) from B15 locations grew from Rs 2.74 lakh crore in September 2016 to Rs 3.79 lakh crore at the end of the last month, ICRA said in a note.
Awareness campaigns by asset management companies (AMCs) and industry body Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) have been the growth drivers.
Currently, B15 accounts for 17.7 per cent of the total assets of the industry.

In September, the share of direct plans in B15 towns stood at 21 per cent compared to 46.1 per cent in T15 cities.
B15 cities are those which are beyond these top 15 cities

New Delhi (including NCR) Mumbai (including Thane & Navi Mumbai), Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Panjim, Pune and Surat.
The assets base of the Indian mutual fund industry, comprising 43 active players, came in at Rs 20.40 lakh crore in September as against Rs 20.59 lakh crore in August.
However, the total folio count at the end of September stood at 6.20 crore, 2 per cent higher than August.

The growth was mainly driven by addition of 9.24 lakh new folios to the equity category (including Equity Linked Savings Scheme) and 2.16 lakh new folios to the balanced segment.
However, folio count fell by 5,564 and 2,259 in Gold ETFs (exchange-traded funds) and Fund of Funds investing overseas, respectively, from August-end levels.