MF industry added 1.60 crore new accounts last year

The mutual fund industry added a whopping 1.60 crore new folios in last fiscal, shows the latest SEBI data. This means the MF industry added a little over 13 lakh folios each month in FY 2017-18.

Overall, the retail folios (across all categories) increased from 5.55 crore in March 2017 to 7.13 crore in March 2018, a growth of 30%, primarily due to healthy growth in retail equity folios.

Equity

Despite volatility in markets through the year, investors continued to pour money in equity funds. The total folio count of equity funds including ELSS went up by 1.27 crore, from 4.08 crore in March 2017 to 5.36 crore in March 2018. SEBI data shows that equity funds including ELSS have mopped up close to Rs.1.71 lakh crore in FY 2017-18. The AUM of equity funds including ELSS crossed Rs.7.58 lakh crore in March 2018.

Balanced Funds

Balanced funds continue to gain popularity among investors as the category saw an addition of over 23 lakh folios with net inflows of close to Rs.90,000 crore during the year.

Many investors rushed to balanced funds for regular dividends and tax benefits compared to debt funds. As a result, the category witnessed a massive jump of 104% in AUM, which went up from Rs.84,763 crore in March 2017 to 1.73 lakh crore in March 2018.

Debt funds

Besides equity, debt funds also saw good traction as the total folio count in this category increased by over 7.48 lakh in FY 2017-2018, largely due to addition in income fund folios. AMFI data shows that retail debt assets largely remained flat, i.e. from Rs.10.74 lakh crore in FY 2016-17 to Rs.11 lakh crore in FY 2017-18. The total folio count in debt funds increased to nearly 1 crore in March 2017, from 83.24 lakh in March 2018.

In the debt funds category, income funds added over 4.50 lakh folios while liquid funds added over 3 lakh folios in the last fiscal.

ETFs

ETFs, which track the equity indices, are increasingly getting popular among retail investors. Folio count in this category rose from 5.51 lakh in March 2017 to 7.52 crore in March 2018. The AUM also grew from Rs.44,436 crore in March 2017 to Rs.75,000 crore in March 2018, infusing an inflow of Rs.24,000 crore.

However, gold ETF folios dipped by close to 34,767, the highest decline compared to other categories, i.e. from 3.64 lakh in March 2017 to 3.29 lakh in March 2018. The AUM of this category too witnessed a decline last fiscal.

Overseas fund of funds

Barring gold ETFs, gilt and fund of funds investing overseas, all other categories recorded a growth in folios. This category is seeing continuous erosion in folios. Folios in the overseas fund of funds category dropped by 16,000.

Folio count in FY 2017-18

Source: SEBI