Rs 10,000 cr-plus MF schemes double in 2015

Equity schemes with assets worth at least Rs 10,000 crore each has doubled to six this year

The country’s mutual fund (MF) sector is seeing a rising number of equity schemes with assets now worth at least Rs 10,000 crore each. In 2015, such schemes doubled in number from three to six, and another is barely Rs 100 crore away from getting into this group.

Interestingly, this was in a year when the key benchmark indices lost around eight per cent; these are down 14 per cent from their all-time highs.

The six schemes mentioned earlier are HDFC Equity Fund, HDFC Top 200, Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund, ICICI Prudential Value Discovery Fund, HDFC Mid Cap Opportunities and Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund. Together, they manage assets worth Rs 74,000 crore, nearly a fifth of overall equity assets.

In all, the sector offers about 460 equity-oriented schemes, managing assets worth Rs 4 trillion (lakh crore).

Kaustubh Belapurkar, director of manager research at Morningstar India, says: “It was certainly the strong domestic inflow, on the back of retail (small) investors’ participation, which helped these funds gain in size in a year when the markets gave negative returns. Popular funds, generally, turn out to be a beneficiary in an environment where inflows are robust.”

 

Adding: “I believe the number of such schemes will only rise if the market performs and inflows remain intact, as there are several schemes with assets between Rs 5,000 crore and Rs 7,000 crore.”

At least seven more schemes are nearing that Rs 10,000-crore club. ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip is almost there, with assets under management of Rs 9,896 crore. Franklin India Bluechip (Rs 6,694 crore), Axis Long Term Equity (Rs 6,497 crore) and Franklin India Prima Plus (Rs 6,145 crore) are established well among investors.

What’s also good for the sector and for investors is that the concentration of equity assets among the top 20 schemes has started to reduce. A year before, 42 per cent of equity assets were managed by the top 20 largest schemes; this has declined to 37 per cent. Meaning the lesser known funds, managed by not so famous managers, are also getting investor inflow. This adds to the sector's depth and would help investors diversify among several fund managers.