StatsGuru: Why mutual funds are undergoing a revival

The mutual fund industry has undergone something of a revival -as Table 1 shows, the number of folios has increased after a long decline. Table 2 shows that assets under management (AUM) have continued to climb, at a faster growth rate. Much of the additional activity, as Table 3 shows, comes from equity-oriented mutual funds. (Click on image to enlarge)

As Table 4 shows, this follows a couple of years of doing at least as well in terms of returns as some other instruments. In addition, in 2014 and 2015, equity mutual funds did well as compared to the Sensex overall, according to Table 5. But there is a long way to go yet - as Table 6 shows, retail investors' AUM is still well below its pre-2012 highs as a proportion of the whole. Table 7 subdivides AUMs further, underlining the rapid growth of equity AUM.