MFs’ unique investor base touches 5.39 crore in February

Notwithstanding the geopolitical issues and subsequent turbulence in the equity markets, the mutual fund industry has managed to add one crore unique investors identified by their PAN in the last one year.

The unique investor count has increased 23 per cent in February to 5.39 crore from 4.39 crore logged in the same period last year, largely on the back of robust new fund offers and buoyant SIP addition.

Individual investors’ assets under management increased by 18 per cent last month to ₹39 lakh crore from ₹33 lakh crore in the same period last year. In fact, retail investors’ assets account for 60 per cent of the overall industry AUM of ₹64.53 lakh crore as of last month.

The industry’s new fund offer collection has jumped by 50 per cent in February to ₹1.08 lakh crore from ₹72,456 crore in the same period last year.

The outstanding SIP accounts increased by 24 per cent to 10.17 crore as of February-end as investors preferred to continue with their SIPs rather panicking and stopping them.

Despite market volatility, SIP asset under management has jumped by 18 per cent to ₹12.38 lakh crore (₹ 10.53 lakh crore).

MF investors have held their nerves to stay put in the markets even as the benchmark Sensex was on a roller coaster ride. Sensex has closed flat at 73,198 last month against 72,500 logged in same period last year. It remained volatile throughout the year to touch a high of 84,300 last September and low of 73,139 in December.

Also read: MFs grow faster than bank deposits despite market volatility

High returns

Akhil Chaturvedi, ED & CBO, Motilal Oswal AMC, said investor confidence in MF remained strong on the backdrop of high returns, which helped attract new investors through both lump sum investments and SIPs.

Moreover, he added markets were relatively buoyant during most part of the last year with volatility increasing only in the second half of the year.

Sorbh Gupta, Senior Fund Manager- Equities, Bajaj Finserv AMC, said investor maturity has played a substantial role in the growth of the MF industry as investors invested in a phased manner to reduce the impact of market fluctuations, and this helped them stay the course.

A significant portion of the growth in customer base can be attributed to the first half of the year, when markets were favourable and they demonstrated a greater ability to navigate market volatility through SIPs, he added.