Despite 9% drop in Sensex in FY 2015-16, investors continued to pour money in equity funds. Thanks to healthy inflows in existing schemes and a flurry of new fund offers, equity mutual funds, including ELSS, have added over 43.35 lakh folios in FY2015-16, shows the latest SEBI data.
The total folio count of equity funds, including ELSS, went up from 3.17 crore in March 2015 to 3.60 crore in March 2016.
The addition in folios was due to healthy inflows in equity funds. SEBI data shows that equity funds have mopped up close to Rs.74,000 crore in FY2015-16. As a result, the AUM of equity funds crossed Rs. 3.80 lakh crore in March. A good chunk of inflows has come in arbitrage funds, which are categorized as equity funds.
Meanwhile, equity funds have added over four lakh folios in March.
Balanced funds
Balanced funds were the flavor of the season last fiscal. After the changes in tax structure of debt funds, many investors rushed to balanced funds.
The category has added five lakh folios last fiscal, collecting close to Rs. 19,800 crore. The total folios in balanced funds increased from 19.91 lakh in March 2015 to 24.90 lakh in March 2016.
The category has witnessed a massive jump of 49% in the assets under management which went up from Rs. 26,368 crore in March 2015 to Rs. 39,150 crore in March 2016.
Folio count in FY 2015-16
|
Category |
Folios as on March 2016 |
Folio as on March 2015 |
Change |
|
Equity |
28746591 |
25199339 |
3547252 |
|
ELSS |
7278471 |
6492280 |
786191 |
|
Equity total |
36025062 |
31691619 |
4333443 |
|
Balanced |
2490458 |
1990516 |
499942 |
|
ETFs other |
271700 |
233964 |
37736 |
|
ETFs gold |
425914 |
465765 |
-39851 |
|
Income funds |
7891468 |
6835289 |
1056179 |
|
Gilt |
65164 |
65225 |
-61 |
|
Liquid |
367194 |
311644 |
55550 |
|
Debt total |
8323874 |
7212187 |
1111687 |
|
Fund of funds |
126016 |
146455 |
-20439 |
|
Total |
47663024 |
41740206 |
5922818 |
Source:SEBI
Debt funds
Debt funds have also seen good traction as the total folio count in this category increased by over 11 lakh in FY 2015-2016, largely due to addition in income fund folios. Income funds have added over 10 lakh folios in the debt fund category. Similarly, liquid funds too have added over 55,000 folios last fiscal.
However, the growth in gilt funds remained flat last fiscal even as RBI slashed repo rate by 125 bps during FY 2015-16. Vidya Bala, Head – Mutual Fund, FundsIndia.com, pointed out that yields from government bonds have hardened in the last two quarters due to which the category has not performed well as expected.
The total folio count in debt funds increased to 83.24 lakh in March 2016 from 72.12 lakh in March 2015.
ETFs
ETFs, which track the equity indices, are increasingly getting popular among retail investors. Folio count in this category has risen from 2.34 lakh in March 2015 to 2.72 lakh in March 2016.
However, Gold ETF folios dipped by close 40,000, the highest decline compared to other categories, i.e. from 4.66 lakh in March 2015 to 4.26 lakh in March 2016. Experts attributed this to lackluster performance of Gold ETF and launch of Sovereign Gold Bonds and Gold Savings Schemes.
Overseas fund of Funds
This category is seeing continuous erosion in folios. Folios in overseas fund of funds category dropped by 20,500. Value Research data shows that the category has delivered a negative 7% return over a one year period.
Overall, reflecting the positive sentiment among investors, the industry has added close to 60 lakh folios last fiscal. The total folio count across all categories increased to 4.77 crore in March 2016 from 4.17 crore in March 2015.
