SEBI Chairman Ajay Tyagi has asked AMCs to put in more efforts to reach out to investors in B15 cities. He was speaking at an industry event held recently in Mumbai.
The SEBI Chairman said that the mutual fund industry has doubled its AUM from B15 cities over the last four years, but it is still 16% of overall MF AUM. “Much more needs to be done to increase penetration of mutual funds in India. The benefits of booming capital markets has to reach people living in far-flung areas.”
He advised fund officials to use IAP corpus to reach out to people in B15 cities. The SEBI Chairman has asked fund houses to reach out to the masses through ground level activities and use digital media to create awareness about mutual funds. The money should be effectively used to spread awareness in smaller towns, he added.
The SEBI chief further said that AMFI’s vision of achieving AUM of Rs95 lakh crore will not be possible if the industry leverages only T15 cities. “This growth is possible only when the industry gets more participation from B15 cities,” he said.
AMFI data shows that over 50% of retail folios are from B15 cities. Traditionally, retail investments are sticky unlike corporates, which tend to book profits at regular intervals.
