Equity MF assets jump 77% in five years: SEBI

Equity mutual fund asset base has grown by 77% from Rs.1.95 lakh crore in March 2010 to Rs.3.45 lakh in March 2015, shows SEBI annual report.

The growth in equity assets is primarily due to healthy inflows in FY 2014-15. “The AUM of equity schemes increased to Rs.3.45 lakh crore in 2014-15 from Rs.1.95 lakh crore in 2010-11. Further, in the last five years, there were net outflows during three financial years while there was a net inflow of Rs.71,000 crore during the current financial year in equity schemes,” states SEBI.

Another reason for this growth is due to the sharp run-up in markets. The BSE Sensex went up by 60% between 2010 and 2015.

SEBI has attributed the growth in equity assets to investor awareness campaigns and improved penetration in B-15 locations. “Though mutual funds have seen overall growth in the last ten years, they have faced a significant challenge with respect to penetration into new markets and increase in the number of investors. Urgency was felt for scaling up mutual funds beyond Tier I cities besides retaining existing customers. In this light, SEBI implemented a two-pronged approach: increasing awareness among investors and improving accessibility of mutual fund products. While these efforts will go a long way in enhancing the reach of mutual funds, SEBI further made available to the public printed literature on MFs in regional languages in consonance with its broader investor education initiatives. Mutual funds were also encouraged to introduce investor awareness campaigns, both in print and electronic media and in regional languages.”

In addition, SEBI said that distributors have played a key role in this growth. “In improving the accessibility of mutual fund products, the role of a distributor assumes importance as this is the touch point between mutual funds and investors and it is critical that distributors undertake efforts to educate investors and increase their awareness levels,” said SEBI.

5 year trend in equity inflow/AUM

Source:SEBI