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Retail folios
in gold ETFs increase by 1.73 lakh while HNI folios shoot up by 3,853 in FY12.
Total folios in gold ETFs rise to 4.59 lakh from 2.86 lakh a year ago.
Retail
investors have flocked to gold ETFs which is evident by the 61% increase in retail
gold ETF folios in the last one year. AMFI data shows that retail gold ETF
folios went up to 4.59 lakh in March 2012 from 2.86 lakh folios in March 2011,
an addition of 1.73 lakh folios. HNI folios in gold ETFs also went up by 3,853
to 10,639 folios in March 2012 from 6,786 folios in March 2011.
Assets
managed by gold ETFs shot up to Rs 9,886 crore in March 2012 from Rs 4,400
crore in March 2011. However, corporate folios fell by 21,799 to 4,665 in March
2012 from 26,464 folios last year.
Currently
there are 14 gold ETFs in the industry and nine gold fund-of-funds which in turn
invest in gold ETFs.
“Gold
is sold across India. ETFs are mainly bought by affluent investors. People who
pay wealth tax prefer to invest in gold ETFs since they are exempt from wealth
tax,” says Pranav Muzumdar of Mangsidesh
Investments.
Increased exposure to equity ETFs
Retail
investors are beginning to show increased participation in passive funds. “A
CRISIL report had recently shown that a majority of active funds are
underperforming their benchmarks. It is becoming increasingly difficult
for active fund managers to outperform markets on a sustainable basis. Passive
funds charge lesser fees. Sometimes when fund managers take aggressive cash
calls, they miss out when the market rallies. ETFs do not come with any fund
manager risk. As markets become more efficient passive funds will provide
better risk adjusted returns,” says D Ramanathan, Sr VP & National Head–
Sales & Distribution, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund.
Retail
investor folios in equity ETFs increased by 43,512 to 1.27 lakh folios in March
2012 from 84,412 a year ago. On the other hand, the HNI category saw a modest
dip of 300 folios in equity ETFs. Overall, ETF folios went up by 45,321 to 1.48
lakh folios in March 2012 from 1.03 lakh folios in March 2011. However, AUM of equity
ETFs dipped to Rs 1,606 crore in March 2012 from Rs 2,516 crore last year as
the Sensex dropped by 9% in the same period. Five ETFs (other than gold) were
launched in 2011. There are 18 equity ETFs in the industry.
|
Category
|
*AUM in 2012
|
AUM in 2011
|
AUM Change
|
Folios in 2012
|
Folios in 2011
|
Folio Change
|
|
Gold ETFs
|
9,886
|
4,400
|
5,486
|
4,75,314
|
3,19,679
|
1,55,635
|
|
Other ETFs
|
1,607
|
2,516
|
-910
|
1,48,443
|
1,03,122
|
45,321
|
|
Source :
AMFI (* AUM in Rs Cr)
|
|