An analysis of commission paid to the top MF distributors shows that India’s top 979 mutual fund distributors, which includes banks, NDs and IFAs, earned revenue of Rs.8534 crore in FY 2017-18, a growth of 71% over FY2016-17 when the top distributors earned Rs.5000 crore.
Also, AMFI data shows that the number of distributors falling under the purview of SEBI criteria of ‘top distributors’ has increased to 979 in FY17-18 from 732 in FY16-17.
These distributors manages AUM of Rs.9.21 lakh crore that is 43% of the overall industry AUM. This also indicates that these distributors earned 93 basis points of the assets under advisory.
One of the key reasons for the increase in commission payout is due to the increase in total equity AUM. The total equity AUM including ELSS, balanced fund and equity ETFs of the industry has gone up from Rs. 6.73 lakh crore in April 2017 to Rs. 10.68 lakh crore in March 2018. In fact, equity funds including pure equity, ELSS, equity ETFs and balanced funds witnessed 117% growth in net inflows last fiscal i.e. from Rs.1.13 lakh crore in FY2016-17 to Rs.2.85 lakh crore in FY 2017-18, an addition of Rs.1.54 lakh crore.
Another reason could be mark to market gain. The BSE Sensex inched up by 3264 points, or 11%, to close at 33,174 points last fiscal.