The mutual fund industry has added 3.45 lakh investor accounts in September, taking the total tally to 8.56 crore, amid volatile market conditions.
In comparison, the industry had added 4.8 lakh new folios in August and more than 10 lakh folios in July.
Folios are numbers designated to individual investor accounts. An investor can have multiple folios.
According to data from Association of Mutual Funds in India, the number of folios with 44 fund houses rose to 8,56,26,244 at the end of September, from 8,52,81,222 at the end of August, registering a gain of 3.45 lakh folios.
The total folio count stood at 8.48 lakh in July, 8.38 lakh in June, 8.32 lakh in May and 8.27 lakh in April.
Market experts said the addition of folios suggests that investors were undeterred by the market volatility. Besides, it indicates their understanding of the market risks associated in the mutual fund schemes.
Meanwhile, the BSE's benchmark Sensex rose 3.6 per cent last month.
The number of folios under the equity and equity-linked saving schemes rose by 2 lakh to 6.18 crore at September-end as compared to 6.16 crore at the end of the preceding month.
The debt oriented schemes folios count went up by more than 92,000 to 67.67 lakh. Within the debt category, liquid funds continued to top the chart in terms of number of folios at 17 lakh, followed by low duration fund at 9.25 lakh.
Overall, mutual fund schemes witnessed a redemption of Rs 1.52 lakh crore last month as compared to an inflow of Rs 1.02 lakh crore in August. The massive redemptions could be attributed to debt-oriented schemes, which saw an outflow of Rs 1.58 lakh crore.
Besides, equity mutual funds witnessed a net inflow of around Rs 6,489 crore in September, the lowest in the last four months, due to profit-booking by investors after a rally in markets following a reduction in corporate tax.
The outflow has pulled down the asset base of the MF industry, comprising 44 players, by 4 per cent to Rs 24.51 lakh crore at September-end from Rs 25.47 lakh crore at end-August.
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