The Russian war on Ukraine had shaved off ₹59,965 crore of investors wealth in the top-10 mutual funds last month as their cumulative asset under management fell to ₹30,75,695 crore last month against ₹31,35,660 crore logged in January.
The top-10 fund houses accounted for 82 per cent of overall industry AUM of ₹37,56,296 crore in February.
Each of the top-10 fund houses reported one per cent to 4 per cent fall in their AUM in February with DSP MF and HDFC MF registering the highest fall of four per cent and three per cent on the back of unprecedented turbulence in equity market.
However, sixth placed Nippon India Mutual Fund surprised by registering the lowest fall and moved a place higher by toppling Kotak Mahindra MF.
Nippon India MF AUM dipped two per cent to ₹279,728 crore last month against ₹284,386 crore logged in January.
Kotak Mahindra MF AUM also dropped by 2 per cent to ₹278,466 crore (₹285,392 crore).
The country's largest fund house SBI MF also reported a fall in its AUM in February to ₹637,402 crore (₹643,285 crore) while the second placed ICICI MF's dipped to ₹463,494 (₹470,065 crore).
HDFC MF and Aditya Birla MF registered a fall to ₹426,013 crore (₹439,483 crore) and ₹291,442 crore (₹297,412 crore) respectively.
The quit India movement of foreign portfolio investors last month pulled the benchmark Sensex down by 1,767 points to 56,247 points against 58,014 points.
Neeraj Choksi, Co-founder, NJ Group said acceptability of Nippon India Mutual Fund brand and positioning of the company among all investor segments have resulted business growth especially after their rebranding in October, 2019.
The AMC has introduced new approach and strong process orientation in the area of risk and investment management which has been taken positively especially among High Networth Investors, Institutional investors and mutual fund distributors, he added.
Satish Dube, an independent mutual fund distributor said being the early entrant the fund house is a leading player on the passive fund side and cut out a niche on exchange traded fund business, especially on index-based ETFs.
When the markets plunged, most of the high networth investors sensed it as a big opportunity to invest lumpsum in Nippon India index funds, he added.