The Hindu Business Line : MFs asset base rises marginally

Mumbai, Jan. 2 Mutual funds’ assets under management (AUM) for December registered a marginal increase of 2.2 per cent, reversing their growth decline in November. Their asset base increased by Rs 12,129 crore, from Rs 5,37,812 crore to Rs 5,49,941 crore.

The leader of the pack continues to be Reliance Mutual Fund, whose asset base has gone up by more than three per cent. It has AUM of Rs 80,779.83 crore. UTI Mutual Fund overtook ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund to take the second position; it registered an 8.95 per cent rise in AUM which now stands at Rs 56,854.10 crore.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund’s asset base grew 3.4 per cent in December, closing the year at Rs 56,772.58 crore.

Out of the 32 mutual fund houses, 11 of them registered a decrease in their asset base, whereas in November there were 22 fund houses which had reported a decline in their AUM.

“There have been around eight IPOs and new fund offers which have contributed to the increase in the corpus of assets of fund houses,” said Mr S. Krishnakumar, Fund Manager & Head, Research, Sundaram BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

Some of the funds which found their place in the NFO nest in December are Franklin Asian Equity Fund, JM Agri and Infra Fund, DBS Chola Small Cap Fund, Kotak Indo World Infrastructure Fund, and Birla Sunlife Special Situations Fund.

Liquid funds

“Liquid funds continue to do well in the current scenario where interest rates are tight; these funds have a direct correlation with interest rates,” said Mr Devendra Nevgi, CEO & CIO, Quantum Mutual Fund.

“Growth has been slow in the month of December as it is a holiday period and there is generally a lot of fund outflow in this month,” said Mr Devendra Nevgi.“There was a lot of outflow of funds as December is also a tax planning month which saw a lot of advance tax payments,” said a fund manager.