Equity funds continued to dominate the retail wallet share. While 73% of retail assets under management (AUM) was in equity funds in December 2014, it went up marginally to 74% in December 2015, according to a data analysis by Prime Database, which focuses on retail investors. However, according to Pranav Haldea, managing director, Prime Database, the picture is different for high net worth individuals (HNIs). As of December 2015, equity funds comprised only 38% of HNIs’ wallet share (though up from 34% a year back). Highest allocation of HNI monies is into debt, though this has fallen from 61% in December 2014 to 56% in December 2015.
Despite market volatility in 2015, retail participation through equity mutual funds has seen a huge fillip. This went up by 17% from Rs.1.68 trillion in December 2014 to Rs.1.96 trillion in December 2015. Significantly, their contribution to the total equity AUM went down from 54% a year back to 49%. On the other hand, for HNIs, not only did the equity AUM increase by 33% from Rs.1.01 trillion to Rs.1.35 trillion, their contribution to the overall equity AUM also increased from 32% to 34%.
