These seven AMCs scored big in FY12

Surprisingly, five out of the seven AMCs which recorded the largest positive AUM growth were mid-sized fund houses.

At a time when 22 AMCs registered a combined dip of Rs. 62,886 crore in assets last fiscal, seven AMCs recorded a robust growth in their assets. Leading the gainers was IDFC Mutual Fund which saw its assets grow by 20% or Rs. 4,158 crore, taking its AUM to Rs. 25,450 crore in March 2012 from Rs. 21,292 crore in March 2011.

“A blend of good investment performance across asset classes and partnership with distribution fraternity through ‘Gamechangers’, which is a unique way of advising mutual funds, helped us achieve this growth,” says Kalpen Parekh, Deputy CEO, IDFC Mutual Fund.

One of its flagship funds, IDFC Premier Equity Fund which was managing Rs. 1806 crore at the beginning of the year has swelled to Rs. 2561 crore. This fund which was closed for lump sum investments earlier started accepting fresh subscriptions from March 01, 2012.

Top seven gainers

The second in the list of gainers is Deutsche Mutual Fund. It added Rs. 3958 crore to its corpus, taking its AUM up to Rs. 12,145 crore, jumping 12 places from 25^th to the 13^th position. It launched 28 FMPs and a few hybrid and liquid funds last fiscal.

“In an environment where equity markets were volatile and interest rates attractive, our focus on Fixed Income & Hybrid funds helped us win the confidence of investors & distributors alike. Our funds managed the risk-reward equation desired by investors, delivering strong performance while maintaining a quality portfolio. Our core Fixed Income & Money Market funds such as DWS Premier Bond Fund and DWS Ultra Short Term Fund, amongst others, recorded substantial growth in assets, “ said Suresh Soni, CEO, Deutsche Mutual Fund

The largest fund house, HDFC was the third largest AUM gainer at Rs. 3597 crore.

J P Morgan was the fourth largest gainer and received net inflows of Rs. 2959 crore. Its AUM almost doubled to Rs. 6369 crore in March 2012, up 87% from Rs. 3410 crore last year.

New fund offers and inflows in liquid funds helped IDBI add Rs. 1954 crore to its corpus. “Since we are a new fund house, we were continuously coming out with NFOs to enhance our suite of products. We had also launched FMPs. Our FMP book is more than Rs. 600 crore now. Apart from this the money has come into short term liquid funds,” says Sarath Sarma, Executive Director, IDBI Mutual Fund.

Baroda Pioneer was the sixth largest player to register a growth in its assets at Rs. 1606. Its AUM went up to Rs. 4191 crore in March 2012 from Rs. 2585 crore in March 2011.

The AMC to record the seventh largest growth was Taurus Mutual Fund. It launched seven FMPs last fiscal. It is managing around Rs. 350 crore in FMPs currently. “We have seen inflows in almost all asset classes - in, short term income funds, liquid, MIPs and equity. Most of our equity funds have been doing well,” says Waqar Naqvi, CEO, Taurus Mutual Fund.

All in all, 22 funds (including the above seven and three new fund houses – Union KBC, Indiabulls, Indiainfoline) added Rs. 26,867 crore in FY 2011-12.

This is the concluding part of the series that looked at the AUM growth of fund houses.