MF industry sees erosion of Rs 8,000 cr in March

The mutual fund industry witnessed a drop of nearly Rs 8,000 crore in its assets in March, plunging below the Rs 5,00,000-crore mark, even as 12 fund houses, including HDFC MF, saw an addition to their kitty. The combined average assets under management (AUM) of the 34 fund houses in the country saw an erosion of Rs 7,709.10 crore, or 1.54 per cent, and dropped to Rs 4,93,264.28 crore at the end of March, according to the data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India. At the end of February, the average AUM had been Rs 5,00,973.38 crore. Among the top five fund houses, only HDFC MF registered a rise of Rs 1,092.05 crore in its AUM at Rs 57,956.45 crore in March, while the other four — Reliance MF, ICICI Prudential, UTI MF and LIC MF — lost a combined over Rs 4,308.53 crore from their assets. Of the 34 fund houses, 12 recorded an increase in their AUMs, adding Rs 4,370.46 crore during last month. “Bank which invest mostly in liquid funds have withdrawn significantly as March was a financial year closing. This has led to a plunge in the assets of the fund houses,” Taurus Mutual Fund Managing Director R K Gupta said. Reliance MF maintained its position as the top fund house in the country even as its AUM dropped