Mutual funds' average assets cross Rs 9 trillion mark

The assets managed by mutual funds rose by 3% to cross Rs 9 trillion mark in the January- March quarter of FY 2013-14 on account of inflows into fixed maturity plans, money market and equity funds, says a report.

The country's 44 fund houses together garnered an average AUM (Asset Under Management) of Rs 9.04 lakh crore during the January-March quarter of 2013-14, up from Rs 8.76 lakh crore in the previous three-month period, Crisil said attributing the data to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).

"Growth in the latest quarter was driven by inflows into fixed maturity plans (FMPs), money market and equity funds," Crisil said.

HDFC MF has retained its top position with average AUM of Rs 1.13 lakh crore, while ICICI Pru MF saw its asset base grow by industry-best rate of 22% to Rs 1.07 lakh crore.

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.

In terms of category, assets of FMPs surged by 18% to Rs 1.55 lakh crore during the January-March quarter and contributed the most to push the overall mutual fund assets to a record high.

The asset base of money market and equity funds grew by four% each to Rs 2.41 lakh crore and Rs 2 lakh crore respectively. This was the second consecutive quarterly growth in the average AUM of equity funds.

"Assets of money market category gained due to inflows arising from the improvement in liquidity due to lending by the RBI through its term repo window, purchase of gilts via open market operations and the government's capital infusion into state-owned banks," the report added.

However, average asset base of gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) shrank by around five% to Rs 9,100 crore during the quarter.