Mutual Fund industry expects AUM to reach Rs 35 lakh crore in 5 years

With growing retail participation, low interest rates, digitisation and introduction of new products, the mutual fund industry is expecting to double its assets under management (AUM) to Rs 35 lakh crore over the next five years, industry players said on Saturday.

As of January 31, 2017 the assets under management of the industry stood at Rs 17.37 lakh crore and industry members estimate the same could reach close to Rs 20 lakh crore by March.

SEBI Chief General Manager Piyoosh Gupta urged mutual fund companies to expand their reach in the eastern region as contribution of eastern states was only at around 7.4 per cent of the assets under management.

"A surprisingly sharp rise in systematic investment plans promoted more sustainable growth from the industry as more people moved away from the concept of large lump sum investments," said a PwC report released at an event organised by Indian Chamber of Commerce.

The report said the growth trend in 2016 was due to the increasing number of investor accounts, steadily growing monthly investments into equity schemes from retail customers, greater participation from smaller cities and surge in inflows into exchange traded funds.

Himangshu Vyapak, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited said digitisation would be a key driver of on-boarding of retail customers.

Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) data shows there are 1.27 crore SIP accounts across the mutual fund industry and the total amount collected last month was at Rs 4,095 crore.

"In the immediate future, with interest rates declining, it is reasonable to predict that debt funds will be drivers of growth in the first half of 2017, while the effect of goods and service tax could be felt in the second half," the report said.

The report also said SEBI is promoting alternative investment fund platform which will allow scope of product innovation around real estate and structured credit and eventually other forms of products such as infrastructure investment trusts.