SBI Mutual Fund (SBI MF) is targetting to reach AUM (assets under management) to Rs 10,000 crore in Karnataka by the next financial year. At present, the state contributes roughly Rs 7,857 crore in AUM to the company.
SBI MF is the fifth largest mutual fund in India with total AUM of about Rs 1,34,000 crore as of September 2016, currently compared with Rs 88,000 crore at the end of September 2015. The fund house has almost 12 lakh SIP (systematic investment planning) folios with a market share of over 11%, and a monthly SIP book value of Rs 350 crore.
SBI MF Executive Director and Chief Marketing Officer D P Singh said, “I have given the Karnataka team a target of Rs 10,000 crore. Last year, our AUMs in Bengaluru increased to Rs 7,857 crore from Rs 5,659 crore, recording a healthy growth of around 39%.”
Singh added, “The irony is that 70% of the MF business, pan-India, comes from four bigger metropolitan cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and Kolkata. However, we see a lot of traction coming from tier II and III towns with 25-30% business. We are aggressively looking at markets like Mangaluru, Hubballi, Mysuru, Belagavi, and Shivamogga. We are expecting close to Rs 500 crore business from the Belagavi market, Mysuru (Rs 150 crore), Hubballi (Rs 110 crore), and Shivamogga (Rs 60 crore) by this financial year-end.”
“Thanks to increase in employment generation in Karnataka, over the last two years, there is a lot of involvement and allocation coming from provident fund (PF) to mutual fund (MF) industry,” he said. Singh was in the city to inaugurate a new office at Jayanagar.
Singh further said, “In developed markets, MF industry is bigger than banking industry. Whereas in India, it is 1/10th. The kind of tax benefits are unparalleled compared with other markets. India is the only country where you can put money in the equity funds and it is zero taxed. At the national level, SBI MF is aiming to enter the top-three club in MFs segment currently number five. Singh explained, the industry grew by 14%, however, we grew by 42% this year, and we target to grow double the next financial year.”
SBI MF is a joint venture between SBI and AMUNDI (France), one of the world’s leading fund management companies. With a network of 163 SBI MF branches across India and 10 branches in Karnataka, it has empanelled advisors of 26,000 and 5,000 active advisors. The company intends to add 5,000 advisors more by 2017.
Currently, it is serving over five million customers and plans to add two million customers more by next financial year.
On the awareness level, Singh said, “We are trying to do a lot of things to inculcate awareness. People who have surplus money, they are not investing in money market. Our funda is simple, people who want to participate in the growth story of the country, they have to invest in equity market. We conduct 200-300 awareness programmes every month across India.”
The total AUM of the industry with 43 players at present is Rs 15 lakh crore, and SIPs valued at Rs 4,000 crore, are being added to the industry every month.