Fund assets slip 5% in Sept

Eight of the 10 top mutual fund houses have lost assets under management ranging between 5 and 25 per cent in September, even as the industry's total assets under management went down by 5 per cent to Rs 2,91,199 crore last month.

The fund houses that have seen this erosion include UTI Mutual Fund, Prudential ICICI AMC, Reliance MF and HDFC AMC. The exceptions are SBI MF and DSP-Merrill Lynch Fund Managers.

Industry observers attributed the fall in assets under management to increased redemptions in debt schemes and ruled out any cause for concern.

Prudential ICICI's assets under management, which declined by Rs 3,908 crore in September to Rs 30,210 crore, was the biggest loser.

UTI Mutual Fund continued its number one position for the second consecutive month, even though it lost Rs 272 crore (0.77 per cent) of assets under management to finish the month at Rs 34,755 crore, according to the latest figures of the Association of Mutual Funds of India.

Standard Chartered MF, which has been looking for a buyer for its mutual fund business, saw its assets under management being eroded by 25 per cent, or Rs 3,786 crore, to Rs 11,764 crore, while Birla Sun Life was the third biggest loser with a loss of Rs 2,482 crore (15 per cent) to Rs 14,615 crore in September.

HDFC saw an erosion of assets under its management of Rs 253 crore to Rs 25,638 crore while Franklin Templeton's declined by Rs 1,138 crore to Rs 23,060 crore.

"The drop in assets under management is not of much significance. The equity market is doing well and this is reflected in the performance of equity-linked schemes. Increased redemptions in fixed-income schemes could be the reason for the drop and this trend will not last for long," said Dhirendra Kumar of Value Research, a mutual fund tracking firm.

Advance tax payment by firms last month may also have contributed to the falling assets under management figures, according to Soumendra Nath Lahiri, senior vice-president, DSP-Merrill Lynch Fund Managers.

"There could be some amount of liquidation due to advance tax payments," he said.

The total assets under management by domestic mutual funds had crossed Rs 3,00,000 crore for the first time in August. SBI MF's assets grew by Rs 78 crore to Rs 15,101 crore while DSP Merrill Lynch's rose by Rs 486 crore to Rs 11,466 crore.