Mutual funds' business in smaller cities up 15% in FY16

Awareness programmes by mutual funds (MFs) in the hinterland have started bearing fruit. Markets remained weak for most of FY16, investors kept pouring into MFs.

Assets (or MF business) from India's smaller cities and towns, called B-15 cities (beyond top 15 cities, or T-15), grew 15.4 per cent in FY16 to Rs 2.19 lakh crore from Rs 1.9 lakh crore last year. Assets from T-15 stood at 11.3 per cent; total asset growth was 12 per cent.

Nearly 49 per cent of B-15 assets are in equity schemes; for T-15 only 28 per cent was in equity segment. Twenty three per cent of individual assets are from B-15.