Mutual funds AUM at record high, cross Rs 14 lakh crore mark in June

Mutual funds AUM at record high, cross Rs. 14 lakh crore mark in June. The average asset under management (AAUM) of Indian mutual funds in the quarter ended June jumped to a new record crossing the Rs 14 lakh crore mark for the first time.

As per research by CRISIL, buoyant inflows in equity and short-maturity debt funds lifted the average AUM of Indian mutual funds to a new record. According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) numbers, AAUM logged in the March quarter was Rs 13.53 lakh crore.

Average AUM of direct plans also rose to a new high of Rs 5.35 lakh crore, up 8.06 per cent. The share of direct plans in overall AUM inched up marginally to 37.12 per cent from 36.57 per cent in the preceding quarter.

Equity funds sprung back after having logged the first fall in 10 quarters in March, with AUM spurting 7.59 per cent, to a record of Rs 4.74 lakh crore. Robust inflows of Rs 9,159 crore (April-May) and mark-to-market gains of 7 per cent in Nifty 50 in the quarter helped the equity funds to attain the record height.

Short-maturity debt funds logged strong gains. Within this category, ultra short-term and short-term debt funds bucked the trend of subdued growth of late. Short-term debt funds saw assets swell by Rs 10,005 crore to a new high of Rs 1.6 lakh crore, way above the Rs 1,525 crore growth seen in the preceding quarter.

Ultra short-term fund assets rose to Rs 1.47 lakh crore, after a decline in the two preceding quarters. Liquid fund assets made a new peak of Rs 3.42 lakh crore with a gain of Rs 19,575 crore, after having risen Rs 28,270 crore in the previous quarter.

Long-maturity funds including long-term debt and gilt continued to face the heat for the second consecutive quarter. Income fund assets shrunk Rs 3,581 crore to Rs 93,873 crore. The fall was lower than the decline of Rs 5,737 crore seen in the previous quarter. Gilt fund assets also lost a record Rs 2,103 crore to Rs 15,207 crore, breaking the uptrend since December 2014.

Fixed Maturity Plan( FMPs) assets increased for the third quarter on the trot, up Rs 12,244 crore at Rs 1.43 lakh crore, after having run up Rs 11,444 crore and Rs 5,306 crore, respectively, in the two preceding quarters because of mark to market gains and stable demand. Mutual fund companies launched 22 FMPs compared to 105 FMPs in the preceding quarter.

As per the CRISIL report, 31 out of the 42 fund houses that have declared average AUM, logged growth. The share of the top five and top 10 rose to 57 per cent and 81 per cent, respectively, from 56 per cent and 80 per cent in the previous quarter.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund remained at the top slot in terms of assets, with a gain of 9.9 per cent, followed by HDFC Mutual Fund and Reliance Mutual Fund.