Axis Asset Management Co, backed by India’s third-largest non-state bank, plans to triple its assets over the next year as it aims to become one of the nation’s top 10 money managers.
Funds under management may rise more than threefold to Rs 10,000 crore ($2.2 billion) by March 31, 2011, Chief Executive Officer Rajiv Anand said in an interview in Mumbai on Monday. Anand, who targets making Axis one of the top 10 equity asset managers in the nation over the next few years, said he’ll consider acquiring rivals. Axis posted the biggest increase in assets under management last month among Indian money managers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, with funds climbing 42 per cent to Rs 3,750 crore in February.
“We are in market share grab mode,” Anand, 44, said. “We expect our growth to be quite steep over the next couple of years.” India’s mutual funds industry has gained fivefold in size in as many years, with assets under management swelling to Rs 7.8 lakh crore in February, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. India’s 1.1 billion people, almost half of whom are under 25 years old, are spending more on electronics, clothes and cars as incomes grow in the world’s second-fastest growing major economy.
