Mutual funds register 4.6% increase in retail folios

Driven by addition in equity fund folios, mutual funds registered 4.6 per cent increase in retail folios during the six months ended September, marking the highest rise since March 2009, says a Crisil report.
The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) had started declaring half-yearly folio data from March 2009.
In absolute terms, the rise translates to an increase of 16.6 lakh retail folios.
According to a Crisil release today, at the end of H1 FY15, the industry had 3.80 crore retail folios, which is almost 96 per cent of the total folio base (including institutional and high networth individual or HNI folios) of 3.95 crore folios.

At the aggregate level, however, mutual fund folios fell marginally due to a decline in HNI folios, it said.
Analysis also showed that of the Rs 1.72 lakh crore of retail investment in equity-oriented mutual funds, Rs 1.10 lakh crore continued for over 24 months.

The equity category, which reported a consistent decline in retail folios since H2 FY'11 till H2 FY'14, posted a record addition of 16.89 lakh folios in H1 FY'15 to 2.90 crore folios.
Strong rally in the equity market and the consequent rise in investors' interest led to a sharp increase in retail folios, the release said.

The equity market benchmark CNX Nifty gained 19 per cent in the April-September period of 2014-15 on hopes of economic reforms by the new government, it said.
The high networth individuals (individuals investing Rs 5 lakh or more) segment saw folio closure in all mutual fund categories. The segment saw closure of over 16 lakh accounts in H1 FY'15, a record fall as per data available since March 2009. The equity fund category saw the biggest fall with closure of 11.34 lakh folios in H1 FY'15, the release said.