Equity Funds' dream run continues

India's mutual fund (MF) industry continued to put up a robust show in the financial year 2016-17. Though inflows in equity schemes were slightly lower than previous financial year, the absolute amount was still high at Rs 70,000 crore. Equity folio counts stood at nearly 41 million, a little less than the all-time high at around the 2008 financial crisis. Total equity Assets Under Management (AUM) were at an all-time high of Rs 5.4 lakh crore. 

Interestingly, the equity assets had dipped to less than Rs 2 lakh crore in 2013. Amid this, balanced funds have continued to attract attention of investors. With rising awareness about MFs and increasing popularity of balanced funds, which typically invest about 65 per cent of assets in equity and rest in debt instruments, the flows and AUM of the category have been quite remarkable. Net inflows in balanced funds nearly doubled to over Rs 35,600 crore in FY17 against what the segment received in FY16 at Rs 19,743 crore. 

It's a fast-emerging MF category, with an overall AUM of Rs 84,763 crore against less than Rs 20,000 crore a few years back. Industry officials are confident that growth in equity segment is here to stay and the overall sector's AUM will soon surpass Rs 20-lakh-crore mark. Currently, the sector's asset size is Rs 17.5 lakh crore.