MF assets dip as corporates pull out funds

admin — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 10:09:44 +0000

Contrary to expectations that the revival in the equity market would have boosted the assets managed by mutual fund houses, nearly 58% of the 36

fund houses that have disclosed their average assets under management (AAUM) figures for September 2009, have seen a drop in assets compared with the previous month.

According to the data released by the Association of the Mutual Fund Industry (Amfi), the total industry AAUM for September 2009 stands at Rs 7,42,919 crore against Rs 7,49,915 crore as on August 2009, registering a decline of about 1% since the previous month. This is the second instance of a month-on-month decline in mutual fund assets in 2009 so far, the earlier one being in March.

According to the industry experts, the marginal decline is mainly on account of outflow of corporate funds from the debt and liquid schemes for making advance tax payments for the half year ended September. However, banks have continued to park in their idle funds with the mutual funds, though the proportion of the same appears to have dropped vis-à-vis the recent past.

According to the data released by the Reserve Bank of India, banks had an outstanding balance of Rs 1,56,573 crore with the mutual funds till September 11, 2009. This shows a rise of about 4% in the mutual fund investments by banks, compared with the investments worth Rs 1,51,136 crore by the end of August 2009.

But it is a grim situation where equity assets are concerned. Equity schemes have failed to register any significant growth despite rise in the equity markets and improving valuations of the existing schemes. With Sebi banning entry load with effect from August this year, distributors are not interested in selling mutual fund products due to inadequate commissions, said fund house officials.

In terms of fund house-wise growth, among India’s larger and well-renowned fund houses, Reliance Mutual’s AAUM rose marginally about 0.8% to Rs 1,18,251 crore and ICICI Prudential has reported an increase of about 3%. MFs managed by HDFC and UTI have, however, seen their AAUM shrink by about 4% and 0.5%, respectively, since August 2009.

Interestingly, it is the relatively smaller fund houses that have shown a healthy rise in their asset figures for the month. Fund houses like Taurus, Shinsei and JP Morgan have reported around 25% increase in their AAUM positions for the month ended September 2009, while Benchmark and Bharti AXA’s assets rose by 13% and 20%, respectively, this month.

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MF assets dip as corporates pull out funds

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