Mumbai: Driven by addition in equity fund folios, mutual funds registered 4.6 per cent increase in retail folios during the six months ended September, marking the highest rise since March 2009, says a Crisil report.
The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) had started declaring half-yearly folio data from March 2009.
In absolute terms, the rise translates to an increase of 16.6 lakh retail folios.
According to a Crisil release on Tuesday, at the end of H1 FY15, the industry had 3.80 crore retail folios, which is almost 96 per cent of the total folio base (including institutional and high networth individual or HNI folios) of 3.95 crore folios.
At the aggregate level, however, mutual fund folios fell marginally due to a decline in HNI folios, it said.
Analysis also showed that of the Rs 1.72 lakh crore of retail investment in equity-oriented mutual funds, Rs 1.10 lakh crore continued for over 24 months.
The equity category, which reported a consistent decline in retail folios since H2 FY'11 till H2 FY'14, posted a record addition of 16.89 lakh folios in H1 FY'15 to 2.90 crore folios.
Strong rally in the equity market and the consequent rise in investors' interest led to a sharp increase in retail folios, the release said.
The equity market benchmark CNX Nifty gained 19 per cent in the April-September period of 2014-15 on hopes of economic reforms by the new government, it said.
The high networth individuals (individuals investing Rs 5 lakh or more) segment saw folio closure in all mutual fund categories. The segment saw closure of over 16 lakh accounts in H1 FY'15, a record fall as per data available since March 2009. The equity fund category saw the biggest fall with closure of 11.34 lakh folios in H1 FY'15, the release said.
Retail folios in the liquid fund category posted a record rise of 42,199 folios to end at 2.41 lakh folios in H1 FY'15 following an addition of 30,457 folios in the preceding six months.
Retail folios in debt funds maintained the uptrend (since March 2009) in H1 FY'15 as well. The category added 4.29 lakh retail folios over the past six months, the highest since September 2012, compared to the addition of 2.92 lakh folios in the preceding six months, it said.
All investor segments (retail, HNIs and institutions) continued to shy away from gilt funds due to flat interest rates amidst lack of monetary easing by the Reserve Bank. The category's folio base slipped 11 per cent to 50,937 accounts.
Gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) posted their third consecutive half-yearly decline in the overall folio count.
The retail segment saw closure of 21,557 folios to end at 4.68 lakh folios in the period under review compared with closure of 35,103 folios in the preceding six months. Domestic gold prices (represented by the Crisil. Gold index) fell 5 per cent in the six months ended September 2014, the release said.
Tenure-wise analysis of assets under management (AUM) across investor types and categories for the half year ended September 2014 showed that 64 per cent of retail AUM stayed in equity mutual funds for more than two years, higher than 62 percent seen in the preceding six months.
Of the Rs 1.72 lakh crore of retail investments in equity-oriented mutual funds, Rs 1.10 lakh crore was held for over 24 months.
About 32 per cent of HNIs, by AUM, stayed invested in equity mutual funds for more than two years, sharply lower than 51 per cent seen in the preceding six months, it said.
Corporates continued to dominate mutual fund AUM with 47 per cent share in September 2014, down from 49 per cent in March 2014.
HNIs were the second biggest contributor with a 28 per cent share. The retail segment's share in total mutual fund AUM rose to 22 per cent in the latest six months from 19 per cent in the preceding six months.
