Pru ICICI overtakes Rel MF in fund stakes

Backed by an extraordinary Rs 8,535 crore (24 per cent) growth in its asset value, Prudential ICICI Mutual Fund today ousted Reliance Mutual Fund as the country's top fund house in February, in terms of assets under management (AUM).

Prudential's AUM grew from Rs 34,745.72 crore to Rs 43,280.67 crore on the back of robust demand across all verticals, particularly for liquid funds and fixed maturity plans (FMPs).

Reliance Mutual, which grabbed the number one slot in January from UTI Mutual Fund, follows Prudential ICICI at Rs 42,209.76 crore, even though it gained 8.17 per cent during the month. Reliance, however, tops the average AUM for the month at Rs 43,586.66 crore against Prudential ICICI's Rs 39,079.24 crore.

UTI Mutual Fund holds the third position with Rs 38,602.99 crore, a gain of 2.84 per cent over its month-old figure of Rs 37,535.07 crore. 

WINNERS ALL
Funds	Asset value (Rs cr)*
Prudential ICICI	43,280.67
Reliance MF	42,209.76
UTI	38,602.99
HDFC	31,079.88
Franklin Templeton	22,102.19
Birla Sun Life	21,070.32
SBI MF	18,473.83
*as on 28 Feb; Source : AMFI

Total AUM is calculated considering the value of assets owned by the fund house at the end of month, while average AUM represents the average sales figures and average asset value during the period.

As per data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India, of 32 mutual fund houses, 14 gained in AUM, while asset values of 15 went down.

The total AUM of the industry grew by 4.10 per cent to Rs 3,53,183.96 crore compared with Rs 3,39,271.79 crore a month ago.

The month saw few fund houses launching debt schemes as well as listing new tax saver schemes. Existing tax saver schemes, which have been performing better, also sold good number of units.

"We have got good collection from across all verticals of products. The chunk came from FMPs, which investors found a safe bet in a volatile market. We are focusing on overall growth of the business and are looking forward to deliver innovative products," Pankaj Razdan, managing director of Prudential ICICI said.

With the new figures, the top five mutual funds Prudential ICICI, Reliance, UTI, HDFC and Franklin Templeton, now hold around half of the industry's AUM. Last year, Prudential ICICI beat UTI in May to become the country's top fund house, but only for three months.

Benchmark MF was one of the significant loser fund as its AUM was narrowed down by 19 per cent to Rs 4,934.59 crore. HDFC, Franklin Templeton, Deutsche MF, Fidelity and HSBC were the other losers.

Lotus MF witnessed, on the back of its good performance in debt funds, saw its AUM surge 91 per cent to Rs 1,238.58 crore. DSP Merrill Lynch, JM Financial, SBI, Sundaram Paribus and UBS-owned Standard Chartered MF were the other gainers.