HNIs and retail investors turn to gold ETFs

Retail folios in gold ETFs increase by 1.73 lakh while HNI folios shoot up by 3,853 in FY12. Total folios in gold ETFs rise to 4.59 lakh from 2.86 lakh a year ago.

Retail investors have flocked to gold ETFs which is evident by the 61% increase in retail gold ETF folios in the last one year. AMFI data shows that retail gold ETF folios went up to 4.59 lakh in March 2012 from 2.86 lakh folios in March 2011, an addition of 1.73 lakh folios. HNI folios in gold ETFs also went up by 3,853 to 10,639 folios in March 2012 from 6,786 folios in March 2011.

Assets managed by gold ETFs shot up to Rs 9,886 crore in March 2012 from Rs 4,400 crore in March 2011. However, corporate folios fell by 21,799 to 4,665 in March 2012 from 26,464 folios last year.

Currently there are 14 gold ETFs in the industry and nine gold fund-of-funds which in turn invest in gold ETFs.

“Gold is sold across India. ETFs are mainly bought by affluent investors. People who pay wealth tax prefer to invest in gold ETFs since they are exempt from wealth tax,” says Pranav Muzumdar of Mangsidesh Investments. 

Increased exposure to equity ETFs

Retail investors are beginning to show increased participation in passive funds. “A CRISIL report had recently shown that a majority of active funds are underperforming their benchmarks.  It is becoming increasingly difficult for active fund managers to outperform markets on a sustainable basis. Passive funds charge lesser fees. Sometimes when fund managers take aggressive cash calls, they miss out when the market rallies. ETFs do not come with any fund manager risk.  As markets become more efficient passive funds will provide better risk adjusted returns,” says D Ramanathan, Sr VP & National Head– Sales & Distribution, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund.

Retail investor folios in equity ETFs increased by 43,512 to 1.27 lakh folios in March 2012 from 84,412 a year ago. On the other hand, the HNI category saw a modest dip of 300 folios in equity ETFs. Overall, ETF folios went up by 45,321 to 1.48 lakh folios in March 2012 from 1.03 lakh folios in March 2011. However, AUM of equity ETFs dipped to Rs 1,606 crore in March 2012 from Rs 2,516 crore last year as the Sensex dropped by 9% in the same period. Five ETFs (other than gold) were launched in 2011. There are 18 equity ETFs in the industry.