UTI MF beats ICICI Pru in AUM

NFOs, debt inflows boost assets of fund houses by 2.25%.

Riding on the back of new fund offerings (NFOs) and inflows into debt funds despite it being an advance tax payment month, total assets under management (AUMs) of Indian mutual fund houses swelled by 2.25 per cent (or Rs 12,130.25 crore) in December compared with the November numbers, according to data released by the Association of Mutual funds of India (AMFI). The total AUM of all mutual funds stood at Rs 5,49,942.02 crore.

However, the list of top fund houses in terms of AUMs threw up some surprises this time with public sector UTI Mutual Fund (up by nearly 9 per cent to Rs 56,854.10 crore in December) making it to the second position, pipping ICICI Prudential mutual fund (Rs 56,772.58 crore), which came a close third. 
 

FABULOUS FIVE
Funds	AUMs in December	Up
Reliance MF	Rs 80,779.83 cr	3.84%
UTI MF	Rs 56,854.10 cr	9.00%
ICICI Prudential	Rs 56,772.58 cr	3.40%
HDFC MF	Rs 48,560.60 cr	3.86%
Birla Sun Life	Rs 31,819.00 cr	1.43%

Anil Ambani-promoted Reliance Mutual Fund retained its top position with AUMs of Rs 80,779.83 crore, up 3.87 per cent. HDFC Mutual Fund (Rs 48,560.60 crore) and Birla Sun life Mutual Fund (Rs 31,819 crore) also retained their fourth and fifth positions respectively.

"Though money was withdrawn for advance tax purposes, it came back to fund houses. Bank money went out at the end of the month in order to meet quarter-end requirements," said Jaideep Bhattacharya, chief marketing officer, UTI Mutual Fund.

A broad-based investor base and good collections in the NFOs helped them reach higher AUMs, he added.

UTI Mutual Fund collected in excess of Rs 3,000 crore through its close-ended infrastructure fund that closed on December 24. Among smaller fund houses, LIC Mutual Fund has managed to mop up Rs 472 crore through its Top 100 fund.

Fund houses like Canara Robeco MF (down 21 per cent), AIG MF (down 16.24 per cent), ING MF (down 15 per cent) and DBS Chola MF (down 10.62 per cent) saw erosion of AUMs from the November figures.