MFs lose 1.6 m retail accounts in H2 of FY14 as investors continue to exit
08 May 2014
Mutual funds have lost around 4 per cent or 1.6 million retail accounts during the second half of the financial year ended 31 March 2014 as investors continued to exit equity funds despite a stock market boom, a Crisil release said.
The mutual fund industry had 39.5 million accounts, including institutional and high networth individuals, in H2 of FY14 compared to 41.3 crore accounts in H1, according to the data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).
The steep decline in the number of retail category equity portfolios during the second half is attributed to profit booking by investors following a sharp rise in the prices and expectations of future volatility.
"After rising almost three times in H1 of FY14, the number of folios held by HNIs (individuals investing Rs5 lakh or more) declined by 5 per cent or 1.5 lakh folios in the second half of FY14 as the segment chose to book profit," Crisil said.
However, Crisil said, the overall decline in the segment was offset by an increase in the number of folios in the debt and money market oriented funds.
The retail folio in the gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) fell by nearly 7 per cent to 4.89 lakh during the second half compared to a 5 per cent decline in the first half of FY14.
Debt funds continue to see a rise in the number of retail investors, Crisil pointed out.
"Debt funds added 2.91 lakh retail folios over the past six months, the highest since September 2012," Crisil said.
Assets under management of retail equity funds that stayed invested for more than two years dipped to 62 per cent during the period, compared to 68 per cent seen in the preceding six months.
"Out of the Rs1,22,000 crore retail investment in equity-oriented funds, Rs75,403 crore investments were held for over 24 months," the report said.
Corporates continued to dominate the industry AUM with 49 per cent share in March 2014, HNIs were second with 29 per cent share followed by retail with 19 per cent share.
