Mutual fund AUM rises 17 pc in 2020, scales Rs 31-lakh-cr mark: Report

During the year, the 44-player industry has added Rs 4.5 lakh crore to the AUM, while in 2019 it grew 18 per cent from Rs 22.86 lakh crore in 2018, when it had grown only 7.5 per cent

Mumbai: A massive rally in the equity markets since May bringing in heavy inflows into equity ETFs and open-ended debt funds has helped mutual fund AUM grow 17 per cent to top the Rs 31-lakh-crore-mark in 2020, which is 1 percentage point lower than 2019, according to a report.

During the year, the 44-player industry has added Rs 4.5 lakh crore to the AUM, while in 2019 it grew 18 per cent from Rs 22.86 lakh crore in 2018, when it had grown only 7.5 per cent, as per Crisil data.

In 2017, the industry rallied 32 per cent and added over Rs 5.4 lakh crore in AUM. In the decade ending 2019, it had grown from Rs 8.52 lakh crore to Rs 27.6 lakh crore in 2019, an over three-fold jump.

In December, the industry clipped at 3 per cent to take the overall AUM to Rs 31.02 lakh crore mark.

“A buoyant run-up in the underlying equity market and firm inflows into open-ended debt funds and equity exchange-traded funds (ETFs) helped take the assets under management (AUM) of the mutual fund industry past the Rs 31-lakh-crore-mark for the first time,” Crisil said.
The industry not only recovered from the massive losses in March due to a sharp erosion in the equity market and outflows from debt funds but also added Rs 4.5 lakh crore in the year to close at Rs 31.02 lakh crore, it added.

However, according to the Association of Mutual Funds (Amfi), December saw the sixth straight month of outflows with investors exiting open-ended equity funds, with the large-cap, multi-cap and value/contra schemes bleeding the most.

“Cumulative outflows for these categories stood at Rs 9,058 crore in December,” the report said.

On the other hand, dividend yield funds saw firm inflows to the tune of Rs 1,490 crore in the month. Coincidentally, the month also saw the highest inflows for the category since Amfi changed its format in April 2019.

Sectoral/thematic schemes got Rs 3,412 crore inflows, which is the highest for the category since April 2019. At the aggregate level, open-ended equity schemes saw net outflows of Rs 10,147 crore in December, only slightly lower than the previous month’s net outflows of Rs 12,917 crore.