ETF assets surge four-fold in 2 years on steady inflow from EPFO

The assets of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have quadrupled in the past two years, on the back of steady inflow from the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

ETFs are traded on stock exchanges, with stocks, bonds or commodities as the underlying product. An ETF's portfolio exactly mimics the securities in its underlying index, in the same weightage.

EPFO had entered the stock market in August 2015. The decision was to invest up to five per cent of its investible deposits; this was raised in 2016 to 10 per cent and then in 2017 to 15 per cent. The body had an estimated Rs