Retail investment in mutual funds rises 51% to Rs2,43,569 cr in FY15

Retail investors added Rs81,786 crore to their mutual fund investments in the 2014-15 financial year taking total retail investments in MFs to Rs2,43,569 crore. Mutual funds saw retail investments rise by a staggering 51 per cent year-on-year at the end of March 2015, data released by the Association of Mutual Fund Industries (AMFI) showed.

AMFI data showed that retail investors held Rs2,43,569 crore in MFs as of March 2015, against Rs1,61,783 crore held by them in March last year.

These individual investments have mainly come from the top 15 cities and are primarily distributor driven, industry insiders said.

Among the top mutual fund houses, Reliance MF saw the highest growth, in the assets under management (AUM) of retail investors, both in percentage and absolute terms.

Reliance MF's asset base for retail investors rose 95 per cent, or Rs13,270 crore, to Rs27,307 crore at the end of March this year. ICICI MF came second, with a growth of 80 per cent in its retail investors AUMs to Rs24,639 crore, Birla Sun Life MF (63 per cent to Rs16,020 crore) was third, followed by HDFC MF (46 per cent to Rs40,272 crore) and UTI MF (34 per cent to Rs35,124 crore).

Combined assets of 44 mutual fund houses stood at approximately Rs12,00,000 crore while equity-oriented schemes had a major share, which was supported by a sharp rally in stock markets.