MFs see 9 per cent growth in assets

The mutual fund industry’s total AUM grew by Rs 59,965.79 crore, or 8.69 per cent, which analysts believe was mainly propelled by the inflow into the fixed income plans.
The combined average AUM of the 36 fund houses in the country hit the historic Rs 7 lakh crore-mark at the end of August at Rs 7,49,911.91 crore, according to the data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). The MF industry had an AUM of Rs 6,89,946.12 crore at the end of July.

“Income funds were in demand in August. Banks and corporate houses have parked their surplus cash with the fund houses, thereby leading to an increase in the AUMs,” Taurus Mutual Fund Managing Director RK Gupta said.
HDFC MF registered the biggest jump of Rs 10,508.09 crore in its average AUM during the period, taking its total assets to Rs 93,874.19  crore at end of August.
The country’s largest fund house Reliance MF saw an addition of Rs 8,979.40 crore during the month to its assets. At the end of August the average AUM of Reliance MF stood at Rs 1,17,313.78 crore. ICICI Prudential, the third largest fund house, saw its assets rise by Rs 4,638.30 crore to Rs 77,966.86 crore. While, UTI MF’s assets grew by Rs 6,674 crore to Rs 73,925.90 crore at the end of August.

“In absence of credit growth, banks are right now sitting on surplus cash. With the increase in bank deposits banks are parking money in MFs which helped in increasing the industry AUM,” Gupta added.

Fund houses which saw an increase in their average AUM in August include Canara Robeco MF, Deutsche MF, IDFC MF, Religare MF and LIC MF. However, analysts cautioned that there could be a decline in the assets of the fund houses during this month as banks would withdraw cash at the end of September quarter.