SBI MF lays out plan for Rs 1 lakh cr AUM by Sept quarter

After a lacklustre growth last year, SBI Mutual Fund has chalked out an ambitious plan to join the biggies club with over Rs 1 lakh crore of assets under management (AUM) soon.
SBI MF, a joint venture between SBI and French major Amundi, is the sixth-largest fund house with an AUM of Rs 86,000 crore as of the June quarter and is all set to cross the Rs 1 lakh crore mark by the September quarter.
To achieve this, the fund house is working on upgrading its IT platform and rolling out two funds for which the regulatory approval is in place. SBI MF's growth in terms of AUM slackened in 2014-15 as it couldn't keep pace with the market growth.

"Our AUM currently stands at Rs 86,000 crore, and we are working hard to cross the target of Rs 1,00,000 crore by September," Managing Director and Chief Executive Dinesh Kumar Khara told reporters here.
"As of end March, our AUM stood at Rs 71,100 crore, up from Rs 65,500 crore in FY14, a growth of 8.5 per cent against the double-digit growth reported by the industry as we couldn't get new investors," Chief Marketing Officer DP Singh said.
Detailing the strategy, Khara said: "We are working on upgrading our IT platform. We are also planning to launch a new fund, a Nifty ETF in the near future. We are also launching an alternative investment fund later this year."

The proposed alternative investment fund will target HNIs who have already made Rs 1 crore value in terms of investment, he added.

The fund house with 43 lakh folios under its fold said it has seen higher interest among investors in B-15 (beyond top 15) cities.
"We do see increase in interest from investors living in B-15 cities. It may not translate in terms of volume of investment. Still, we do see the number of folios increasing from the B-15 cities," he said.
The fund house had acquired three schemes of Daiwa AMC around two years ago and is looking to acquire more such in future.

"The AUMs of all the three schemes acquired by us from Daiwa AMC have trebled now. We are looking for acquiring more such schemes in future though nothing has been finalised as yet," he said.
The fund house has 48 products in its offering, which includes 25 in equity and 23 in debt.