The mutual fund industry saw a 7.9 per cent rise in assets at Rs 7.47 trillion (Rs 7.47 lakh crore) — the highest since September 2010 — in the second quarter of the current fiscal, according to Crisil Ratings.

The average assets under management (AUM) for the July-September quarter stood at Rs 7.47 trillion, up from Rs 6.93 trillion in the previous quarter.

“The rise in average assets under management in absolute as well as in percentage terms was the highest since September 2010 quarter, when the AMFI started declaring average AUMs on quarterly basis,” Crisil said.

“Rise in the average AUM was primarily due to inflows into income funds, ultra-short term debt funds and money market mutual funds,” it said.

Among the debt schemes, the money market, ultra-short term and short-term debt funds together saw a rise of 16 per cent in assets to Rs 3.34 trillion during the quarter under review.

“The rise in assets was on account of inflows due to an improvement in the liquidity situation following the Reserve Bank decision to cut the statutory liquidity ratio (SLR) and cash reserve ratio (CRR) during the quarter,” the credit rating agency said.

On the other hand, fixed maturity plans that had been witnessing inflows in the past few quarters saw assets shrinking by 7 per cent to Rs 1.19 trillion.

“This is due to a decline in new fund offers in this category and higher redemptions that have taken place over the quarter. Peaking of interest rates in the domestic financial markets and other categories looking more attractive have led to decline in the number of new fund offers in fixed maturity plans,” it observed.

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