Retail investors' MF asset base surges 51% to Rs 2.43 lakh cr

The mutual funds assets base of retail investors rose by a staggering 51 per cent to over Rs 2.43 lakh crore at the end of March 2015 as against the year-ago level.
According to mutual fund industry data, retail investors held Rs 2,43,569 crore in MFs as of March 2015, higher than Rs 1,61,783 crore held by them in March last year.
These individuals' assets have mainly come from the top 15 cities and are primarily distributor driven, industry insiders said.
Among the top mutual fund houses, Reliance MF saw the highest growth, in the assets under management (AUM) of retail investors, both in percentage and absolute terms.

Reliance MF's asset base for retail investors rose 95 per cent, or Rs 13,270 crore, to Rs 27,307 crore at the end of March this year.
This was followed by ICICI MF, which saw a growth of 80 per cent in its retail investors AUM to Rs 24,639 crore, Birla Sun Life MF (63 per cent to Rs 16,020 crore), HDFC MF (46 per cent to Rs 40,272 crore) and UTI MF (34 per cent to Rs 35,124 crore).

Together, all 44 mutual fund houses manage assets worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore.
Most of the money was pumped in equity-oriented schemes, which was supported by a sharp rally in stock markets.

The growth in assets base is in line with the BSE's benchmark Sensex surging by 25 per cent in the past financial year.