Assets under mutual fund management exceed Rs8,00,000 crore in May

Total assets under management of domestic mutual funds exceeded Rs8,00,000 crore in May, up around 5 per cent from the previous month, data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed.

AMFI data are based on the average of the assets managed by mutual funds during the month and this is the second instance of the mutual fund assets topping Rs8,00,000 crore over the last six months. In November 2009, the funds had grossed Rs8,07,000 crore, but the amount fell to Rs7.4-lakh crore by March 2010. The figure has been increasing for the past couple of months, and now stands at Rs8,03,000 crore.

Fund houses like Axis, Edelweiss, Kotak, L&T, Peerless, Shinsei and Taurus, with dominant debt portfolio, have seen double-digit percentage growth in their AAUM while fund houses with a larger equity asset base posted a decline in their assets in May. These funds include AIG, DSP Blackrock, Fidelity, HSBC, Mirae, Morgan Stanley and Sundaram BNP Paribas.

The marginal decline between 0.3 per cent and 5.7 per cent is attributable to the decline in equity valuations on a fall in share prices last month.

Inflows into equity schemes have been moderate but fund managers say they will pick up, now on cheaper valuations as compared with those of a couple of months back. Some industry experts say retail investors are currently resisting equity investments on expectations of further corrections in the market.

Among the larger fund houses in the country, all the top three asset management companies, namely Reliance, HDFC and ICICI Prudential, have seen their asset base grow 6-8 per cent last month.