Equity bug bites small-town investors

Industry-wide accounts reached a record 55 million as of March 31

India’s stock market boom is fanning out to the country's hinterland.

Flows into mutual funds (MFs) from towns outside India's 15 biggest cities surged 41 per cent to a record Rs 3.1 lakh crore ($48 billion) at the end of March, according to the latest data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). And half of this money flowed into equity funds.

Amit Goyal, a 36-year-old human resources executive from the northern city of Dehradun, embodies this trend. He began putting Rs 4,000 every month into funds last year. 

Encouraged by the rising value of the investments, he has since made