MF industry adds 77 lakh retail folios in FY 2016-17

The mutual fund industry has added a whopping 77 lakh folios in FY 2016-17, shows the latest SEBI data. That means, the MF industry has added close to 6.50 lakh folios each month on an average in FY 2016-17.

Overall, the retail folios (across all categories) increased from 4.76 crore in March 2016 to 5.55 crore in March 2017, primarily due to a healthy growth in retail equity folios.

Equity

Despite volatility in markets through the year, investors continued to pour money in equity funds. The total folio count of equity funds including ELSS, went up by 48 lakh from 3.60 crore in March 2016 to 4.08 crore in March 2017. In March 2017 itself, over 14 lakh equity folios were added. AMFI data shows that equity funds have mopped up close to Rs. 70,300 crore in FY 2016-17.  As a result, the AUM of equity funds crossed Rs. 5.43 lakh crore in March 2017.

Balanced Funds

Balanced funds continue to gain popularity among investors as the category saw an addition of over 10 lakh folios with net inflows of Rs.36,610 crore during the year.  in fact, the category has added over 3 lakh folios in the month of March 2017.

After the changes in tax structure of debt funds, many investors rushed to balanced funds.

As a result, the category has witnessed a massive jump of 116% in the AUM, which went up from Rs. 39,150 crore in March 2016 to Rs. 84,763 crore in March 2017.

Debt funds

Besides equity, debt funds have also seen good traction as the total folio count in this category increased by over 16 lakh in FY 2016-2017, largely due to addition in income fund folios. AMFI data shows that retail debt assets grew by Rs. 2.92 lakh crore i.e. from Rs. 7.82 lakh crore in FY 2015-16 to Rs.10.74 lakh crore in FY 2016-17. The total folio count in debt funds increased to nearly 1 crore in March 2017 from 83.24 lakh in March 2016.

Among debt funds category, income funds have added over 12 lakh folios while liquid funds added over 4 lakh folios in the last fiscal.

ETFs

ETFs, which track the equity indices, are increasingly getting popular among retail investors. Folio count in this category has risen from 2.72 lakh in March 2016 to 5.51 lakh in March 2017. The AUM also grew from Rs. 16,063 crore in March 2016 to Rs. 44,436 crore in March 2017 infusing an inflow of Rs. 24,054 crore.

However, gold ETF folios dipped by close 61,000, the highest decline compared to other categories, i.e. from 4.26 lakh in March 2016 to 3.64 lakh in March 2017. The AUM of this category too witnessed a decline from Rs. 6346 core to Rs. 5480 crore.

Overseas fund of funds

Barring gold ETFs and fund of funds investing overseas, all other categories recorded a growth in folios. This category is seeing continuous erosion in folios. Folios in overseas fund of funds category dropped by 16,290. 

Folio count in FY 2016-17

Source: SEBI