Assets may cross 4 lakh crore in 2015
MUMBAI: After attracting a record inflow of funds into the equity schemes, the domestic mutual fund (MF) industry is expecting another buffer year for equity schemes as fund managers believe that the ‘bull market’ rally has just started in India and the retail individual investors who had missed out of the recent rally, are expected to come in large numbers.
According to the data provided by Value Research, an online mutual fund tracking firm, the equity funds offered by fund houses have witnessed a record inflow of Rs 49,958 crore till November 30, 2014.
“We will see a significant increase in fresh investment by retail individual investors as lot of people have missed out and couldn’t participate in the recent rally in stock market. We will see real retail participation coming in 2015,” said Surajit Misra, executive vice-president and head of mutual funds at Bajaj Capital. The total assets under management (AuM) of equity mutual funds has swelled to Rs3.15 lakh crore at the end of November 30, 2014 from Rs1.82 lakh crore during the beginning of this year. The equity AuM according to mutual fund experts is expected to cross Rs 4 lakh crores in 2015.
“We expect 2015 to be a much better year than 2014 as we are in the beginning of a bull market rally. There will be a clear shift of capital from physical assets like gold and real estate to the equity market,” said Sundeep Sikka, chief executive officer at Reliance Mutual Fund. According to him, the increasing number of investors from tier II and tier III cities are showing active interest in equities and their investment into equity markets are expected rise in 2015.
Milind Barve, CEO, HDFC MF said that the investors have now realised the benefit of staying invested in equities for a longer time horizon. “The equity as an asset class is expected to do well and the positive inclination towards equity market wo-uld continue even in 2015.
