The overall asset under management of the mutual fund industry crossed the ₹50-lakh crore mark to hit ₹50.78-lakh crore last month against ₹49.05-lakh crore logged in November, aided largely by strong rally in equity markets and steady SIP inflows.
The inflow into equity mutual funds increased by nine per cent last month to ₹16,997 crore against ₹15,536 crore in November largely due to six new fund offers garnering ₹6,321 crore.
Small-caps continued to hog the limelight by attracting ₹3,857 crore (₹3,699 crore) followed by thematic and large- and mid-cap fund getting inflows of ₹6,005 crore (₹1,965 crore) and ₹2,339 crore (₹1,847 crore), respectively.
SIP inflows continued to rise and touched a new high of ₹17,610 crore (₹17,073 crore) in December. In fact, the SIP inflow alone touched ₹1.42 lakh crore so far this year. The SIP asset at ₹9.96-lakh crore accounted for 43 per cent of overall equity AUM of ₹21.79-lakh crore.
The number of unique mutual fund investors more than doubled in the last five years to ₹4.21 crore last month against ₹1.91 crore in December 2018.
Navneet Munot, Chairman, Association of Mutual Fund Industry (AMFI), said the mutual fund industry is geared up for the next growth milestone of ₹100-lakh crore AUM and 10 crore investors, which will be achieved sooner than expected as the industry has shifted gears to leverage technology across the value chain.
SIP steals the show
Venkat Chalasani, Chief Executive, AMFI, said while the industry took almost 50 years to build the first ₹10-lakh crore of AUM, the jump from ₹40-lakh crore to ₹50-lakh crore was achieved in just one year with the focused efforts of AMCs and the regulator to reach investors across the country through the distribution channel.
A Balasubramanian, Managing Director, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, said the growth trajectory of the industry has been remarkable with AUM doubling in the last 5 years and 5 times in the last 10 years.
The power of SIP has largely been understood by investors and it allows investors to participate in both, up and down cycle of market, he added.
Anand Vardarajan, Business Head, Tata Asset Management said the fixed income category continued to be under pressure on flows due to tight liquidity impacting liquid and ultra segments even while the longer end lacked much traction on flows despite yields being quite attractive.