New Delhi: Contribution of the country's smaller towns - known as beyond-15 cities (B15) - to mutual funds' asset base has surged 36 per cent to Rs 1.89 lakh crore at the end of March. Mutual Funds' assets under management (AUM) from B15 locations grew from Rs 1.39 lakh crore in March 2014 to Rs 1.89 lakh crore at the end of March this year, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI).
Industry experts attributed the increase in contributions from B15 cities to huge compensation given to distributors, investor awareness and education programmes by MFs as well as incentive schemes launched by capital markets regulator Sebi. Besides, a rally in the equity markets also helped in increasing the contribution from B15 cities.
"Huge compensations were given to MF distributors and the market was also on the high, eventually helping in raising the assets base of B15 cities," Quantum MF CEO Jimmy Patel said. He further said that B-15 locations have a better balance of equity and non-equity assets, while top 15 cities (Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai) are skewed in favour of non-equity assets due to the concentration of institutional investors.
There was a shift away from non-equity schemes to equity schemes since March 2014. B15 cities are those which are beyond these top 15 cities -- New Delhi (including NCR) Mumbai (including Thane & Navi Mumbai), Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Baroda, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Kanpur, Lucknow, Panjim, Pune and Surat. Together, all 44 mutual fund houses manage assets worth nearly Rs 12 lakh crore.
