Mutual fund assets cross Rs 4 trillion mark

Assets owned by India's mutual funds crossed the Rs 4 trillion-mark for the first time, thanks to the rising stock markets and launch of more schemes by the fund houses. 

Reliance Mutual Fund posted a 21% growth in its assets during May to maintain its number one status for the third month running, leaving behind peers ICICI Prudential and UTI Mutual Fund, which also posted decent gains in the same period.

The total AUM of Mutual Fund Industry stood at Rs 4,02,035.88 crore (excluding four mutual funds which had not diclosed their data on AMFI website), a growth of 14.7% from the last month's AUM of Rs 3,50,279.39 crore.

The Anil Ambani-controlled asset management company (AUM) leads the assets under management table with a total AUM of Rs 59,143.47 crore for the month of May. The company's assets increased by Rs 10,315.44 crore during the period, a growth of 21% from Rs 48, 828.03 crore in April, according to the latest figures by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).

Reliance Mututal Fund is followed by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, UTI Mututal Fund, HDFC Mututal Fund and Franklin Templeton which continue to hold on to their positions as India's top five fund houses.

At number two, Prudential ICICI's assets stood at Rs 50,703 crore, which grew by 19.9% from previous month's Rs 42,267.85 crore.

UTI Mutual Fund maintained the third slot by growing its assets by over 12% from Rs 35,517 crore in April to Rs 40,070.16 crore in May.

With stock market's benchmark Sensex trading near its all-time high (broader Nifty Index is at all-time high), the equity holdings by domestic fund houses are also showing rapid rise, resulting in higher AUMs.

HDFC Mutual Fund's AUM saw a rise of 14.7% in May to Rs 36,146.66 crore from Rs 31,511 crore in April. HDFC's growth rate was faster than UTI Mutual Fund.

Franklin Templeton performed modestly well growing by 7.2% to clock an AUM of Rs 26,276.35 crore in May.

The newly launched small Mutual Funds like Lotus and Quantum Mutual funds are also catching up, going by the AMFI data. Quantum grew by 6.39% from Rs 57.38 crore in April to Rs 61.05 crore in May.  Lotus' AUM for the month of May was Rs 3623.14 crore.