Mutual funds in India

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The first introduction of a mutual fund in Indiaoccurred in 1963, when the Government of India launched the Unit trust of India(UTI).[1]Mutual funds are broadly categorised into three segments: equity funds, hybrid funs and dept funds

Mutual fund [edit]

Modern portfolio theory suggests a diversified portfolio of shares and other asset classes (such as debt corporate bonds, treasury bonds, or money market funds) will realise more predictable returns if there is prudent market regulation.
Mutual Fund Units Redeemed Data[3][4]
Holding Period Units redeemed in FY22 Units reedemed in FY23
0 – 1 years 56.83% 50.11%
3 – 5 years 20.41% 13.96%
1 – 2 years 15.14% 23.04%
2 – 3 years 5.03% 9.81%
More than 5 years 2.59% 3.09%

Mutual fund category breakup

Controversies [edit]

Categories of
Financial risk
image with title
Credit task
Settlement risk
Concentration risk
Sovereign risk
Default risk
Market risk
Interest rate risk
Currency risk
Equity risk
Commodity risk
Volatility risk
Systemic risk
Systematic risk
Liquidity risk
Refinancing risk
Deposit risk
Margining risk
Investment risk
Model risk
Execution risk
Valuation risk
Business risk
Reputational risk
Operational risk
Country risk
Political risk
Legal risk
Moral hazard
Profit risk
Non-financial risk
Stranded asset

List of Mutual fund companies/schemes bankrupted, defaulted or closed[edit]

2020 Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund fiasco[edit]

April 2020, Franklin Templeton India unexpectedly wound up six credit funds with assets of close to $4 billion, citing a lack of liquidity amid the coronavirus pandemic. These funds had large exposure to higher-yielding, lower-rated credit securities. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) conducted a probe into this sudden closure and found “serious lapses and violations”. As a result, in June 2021, SEBI barred Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund from launching any new debt schemes for two years. The regulator also ordered the fund house to refund investment and advisory fees, along with interest, of more than 5 billion rupees, and fined the global giant another 50 million rupees.[15][16][17][18]

Franklin Templeton said it strongly disagreed with the SEBI’s order and planned to appeal against it. The decision to wind up the schemes “was taken with the sole objective of preserving value for unitholders”, a spokesperson said. However, the closure of these funds sparked panic withdrawals from other Franklin Templeton schemes as well as credit funds of other asset managers, leading to a storm on social media and court cases by distraught investors.[18][15][17]

Reliance Mutual Fund[edit]

2019, the debt schemes of Reliance Mutual Fund faced a liquidity crisis due to their exposure to troubled companies like Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL). This led to severe redemptions and forced asset sales, which significantly affected investors.[19][20]

IL&FS crisis and impact[edit]

The IL&FS crisis in 2018 had a significant impact on the mutual fund industry, including those managed by IDBI Mutual Fund. The defaults by IL&FS led to a series of downgrades and defaults on its debt obligations and inter-corporate deposits1. This situation caused considerable distress in the financial markets and led to significant markdowns in the Net Asset Values (NAVs) of the affected mutual fund schemes, resulting in losses to investors.[21][22][23] The defaults by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services (IL&FS) triggered a liquidity crisis, making it difficult for mutual funds to meet redemption demands without selling assets at distressed prices. This event heightened concerns about credit risk, leading to widespread downgrades of IL&FS and other non-banking financial companies (NBFCs). Consequently, the net asset values (NAVs) of mutual funds holding these securities were adversely affected, reflecting the increased credit risk and decreased market confidence.[24][25][26][27] Investor confidence in debt mutual funds, particularly those with high exposure to NBFCs and infrastructure debt, was severely undermined. This led to significant outflows as investors moved towards safer and more liquid investment options. In response, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) introduced stricter regulations on sectoral exposure, single issuer limits, and the quality of collateral accepted in debt funds to enhance liquidity and reduce risks. Fund managers began focusing on higher-quality assets and improved risk management practices. The crisis underscored the need for better credit assessment and liquidity management, prompting regulatory reforms and a more cautious investment approach within the mutual fund industry.[24][25][26][27]

Amtek Auto Impact[edit]

Several mutual funds, including those managed by JP Morgan Asset Management India, faced significant issues due to exposure to Amtek Auto, which defaulted on its debt in 2015. JP Morgan had to suspend redemptions and impose exit loads to manage the liquidity crisis.[28][29][30]

Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund (Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund)[edit]

In 2018, Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund faced redemption pressures in some of its debt schemes due to exposure to entities like the Essel Group companies. The Economic Times reported that the Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund was the biggest investor in the Essel Group, with an exposure of Rs 2,936 crore spread across 28 schemes1. This accounted for almost 37% of the total debt fund exposure to the Zee group, which is part of the Essel Group.[31]

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) crisis and impact[edit]

The Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) crisis had a profound impact on the Indian mutual fund industry. DHFL's defaults created a severe liquidity crunch, making it difficult for mutual funds to meet redemption pressures without selling assets at heavily discounted prices. This crisis raised significant concerns about the creditworthiness of housing finance companies (HFCs) and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), leading to downgrades of DHFL's debt instruments and adversely affecting the net asset values (NAVs) of mutual funds holding these securities.[32][33][34][35] Investor confidence in debt mutual funds, especially those with high exposure to HFCs and NBFCs, was severely shaken, resulting in substantial outflows as investors sought safer investments. In response, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) increased scrutiny and introduced tighter regulations on mutual funds' exposure to individual issuers and sectors to mitigate such risks in the future. Fund managers adjusted their portfolios by shifting towards higher-quality and more liquid assets, reducing exposure to high-risk debt instruments. The crisis underscored the importance of credit quality and liquidity management, prompting regulatory reforms and a more cautious approach within the mutual fund industry.[32][33][34][35]

2001 UTI Mutual Fund (Unit Trust of India) fiasco[edit]

The Unit Trust of India (UTI) faced a significant crisis in 2001, which was primarily due to large-scale redemption pressures and mismanagement, particularly in its flagship scheme, US-6412. The crisis was exacerbated by the Ketan Parekh scam, which caused a sharp decline in stock prices, leading to mutual funds, including UTI’s schemes, suffering severe consequences.[36][37][38] The government intervened to protect investors and restructured UTI. This restructuring led to the bifurcation of UTI into two separate entities in 2003: the UTI Mutual Fund (now managed by the UTI Trustee Company Pvt. Ltd.) and the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), which took over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile UTI12. The government’s intervention included a bailout package to stabilize the situation and ensure the protection of investors’ interests.[36][37][38]

DHFL Pramerica Mutual Fund[edit]

Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) defaulted on its debt obligations in 2019. This event led to significant governance concerns and defaults by DHFL in meeting various payment obligations, prompting the Reserve Bank of India to supersede the Board of Directors of DHFL1. The default affected several mutual funds, including those managed by BNP Paribas Asset Management India Private Limited, which had to mark down the value of their investments in DHFL’s securities.[39][40][32][35]

Yes Mutual Fund[edit]

In 2019, Yes Bank faced severe financial stress and was eventually placed under a moratorium by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in March 2020. This led to significant challenges for Yes Mutual Fund, particularly its debt schemes that had exposure to Yes Bank’s securities. The crisis necessitated write-downs and affected investor confidence. Around 32 mutual fund schemes had exposure to Yes Bank’s downgraded debt papers, with a total exposure amounting to approximately ₹2,848 crore. The crisis led to write-downs of these securities and impacted the net asset values (NAVs) of the mutual funds involved, which in turn affected investor confidence.[41][42][43]

Kotak Mutual Fund[edit]

In 2019, Kotak Mutual Fund did face challenges with its Fixed Maturity Plans (FMPs) due to exposure to debt securities of companies like the Essel Group. The fund house was unable to redeem investments from these companies, which led to delays and partial rollovers of the FMPs. This situation affected the investors’ expected returns. Consequently, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) barred Kotak from launching new FMPs for six months and imposed a fine for failing to abide by regulatory requirements.[44]

HDFC Mutual Fund[edit]

HDFC Mutual Fund did face a situation in 2018-2019 due to its exposure to companies like Essel Group and IL&FS. The credit events involving these companies led to significant mark-downs in the Net Asset Values (NAVs) of some of HDFC Mutual Fund’s debt schemes. This situation resulted in investor concerns and redemption pressures.[45][46] To elaborate, the IL&FS crisis was one of the biggest financial crises in India, with the company defaulting on several of its obligations due to a cash shortfall. The debt involved was about Rs 1 lakh crore. Similarly, Essel Group companies were grappling with debt woes, which put mutual funds, including HDFC, under redemption pressure. However, HDFC Mutual Fund later recovered the entire investment made in the non-convertible debentures issued by Essel Group companies.[45][46]

Sahara Mutual Fund[edit]

SEBI conducted an examination to determine whether Sahara Mutual Fund, its Asset Management Company, and its trustees were ‘fit and proper’ as per regulatory standards. This was in light of a previous SEBI order from 2011 concerning two other Sahara entities, which were directed to refund money collected through Optionally Fully Convertible Debentures (OFCDs) to investors.[47][48] In 2015, SEBI ordered the winding up of Sahara Mutual Fund’s schemes due to non-compliance with regulatory requirements. The regulatory scrutiny and legal challenges indeed led to operational difficulties and affected investor confidence in the fund house.[49][50]

Market segment[edit]

Despite being available in the market,[51] a recent report on Mutual Fund Investments in India published by research and analytics firm, Boston Analytics, suggests investors are holding back from putting their money into mutual funds due to their perceived high risk and a lack of information on how mutual funds work.[52] There are 46 Mutual Funds as of June 2013.[53] In 2019, Asset under management (AUM) of the mutual fund industry rose by 13% to 24 trillion in 2018 by November[54] The total assets under management (AUM) has surged by around 23.43% in 2023. The Assets base in January 2023 was Rs.40.70lakh crores, which rose to Rs.50.24 lakh crore in Nov, 23.[55]

Average assets under management[edit]

Assets under management (AUM) is a financial term denoting the market value of all the funds being managed by a financial institution (a mutual fund, hedge fund, private equity firm, venture capital firm, or brokerage house) on behalf of its clients, investors, partners, depositors, etc. The average assets under management of all mutual funds in India for the quarter Dec 2015 to Mar 2016(in ₹ Lakh) is given below:[56][57] or [58]

Mutual Fund Name Total Schemes QAAUM AUM (₹ Lakh.) Prev QAAUM (₹ Lakh.) Inc/Dec (₹ Lakh.) Percentage
Axis Asset Management Company 263 3776454.37 3456348.88 320105 9%
Baroda Pioneer Asset Management Company 111 965630.33 925542.12 40132 4%
Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company 806 13678510.7 13684493.34 5312 0%
BNP Paribas Asset Management Company 114 509706.79 500795.21 9209 2%
BOI AXA Asset Management Company 76 238501.41 242767.91 2887 1%
Canara Robeco Asset Management Company 142 804326.86 751779.86 52627 7%
Pramerica Investment Management 8 27698 17194 10504 61%
DHFL Pramerica Asset Management Company 491 2598683.24 216345 -80979 -37%
DSP Asset Management Company 398 4015131.25 3918267.17 96865 2%
Edelweiss Asset Management Company 70 167774.29 163236.28 4538 3%
Escorts Asset Management Company 60 28559.18 29222.27 -663 -2%
Franklin Templeton Asset Management Company 200 6784076.49 7172216.54 -384257 -5%
Goldman Sachs Asset Management Company 18 610139.99 685179.35 -75039 -11%
HDFC Asset Management Company 1173 17608456.44 17866622.24 -256390 -1%
HSBC Global Asset Management Company 155 790382.19 837762.82 -47151 -6%
ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company 1529 17596397.6 17223699 390751 2%
IDBI Asset Management Company 92 689266.37 756428.17 -67162 -9%
IDFC Asset Management Company 453 5228379.46 5486421.83 -249600 -5%
IIFCL Asset Management Asset 1 35797.56 34293.89 1504 4%
360 ONE Asset Management Limited 18 48543.76 42203.84 6340 15%
IL & FS Infra Asset Management Company 12 92296.34 90029.5 2267 3%
Indiabulls Asset Management Company 56 528955.04 491675.45 37279 8%
JM Financial Asset Management 179 1616090.42 1586776.74 29313 2%
Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company 431 5873108.27 5513383.02 362464 7%
L&T Asset Management Company 246 2594480.1 2505850.82 89990 4%
LIC Nomura Mutual Fund Asset Management Company 176 1315562.4 1238408.04 92942 8%
Mirae Asset Management Company 55 313272.14 280239.04 33101 12%
Nippon India Mutual Fund 1015 15936949.34 15787817.36 152561 1%
Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company 31 468921.13 455222.64 14103 3%
Peerless Asset Management Company 57 98524.1 102441.7 -3917 -4%
PPFAS Asset Management Company 1 61357.1 62931.88 -1575 -3%
Gross 11856 135912187.2 132170477.1

Mutual Fund Acquisitions[edit]

Seller Acquired By Year
Pioneer ITI MF Franklin Templeton 2002
Zurich India AMC HDFC MF 2003
Alliance Capital MF Birla Sunlife 2005
Standard Chartered IDFC 2008
AIG Global Investment Group MF PineBridge MF 2011
Benchmark Mutual Fund Goldman Sachs 2011
Fidelity L&T Finance 2012
Morgan Stanley's MF HDFC MF 2013
PineBridge MF Kotak MF 2014
ING Mutual Fund Birla Sunlife 2014
Daiwa AMC SBI MF 2013
Goldman Sachs Reliance MF 2015
Deutsche Pramerica 2015
JP Morgan Edelweiss 2016
Peerless Essel 2017
Escorts Quant 2018
Religare Invesco Invesco AMC 2018
Reliance MF Nippon India 2019
Principal Sundaram 2021
Essel Navi MF 2021

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. "MF History". Association of Mutual Funds of India. 18. Zaidi, Babar (28 January 2019). "Essel Group strikes deal with lenders to avert pledged share crisis". The Economic Times.
2. "Indian Mutual Fund Industry's Average Assets Under Management (AAUM) stood at ₹ 57.01 Lakh Crore (INR 57.01 Trillion)". www.amfiindia.com. Retrieved 10 June 2024. 19. "DHFL crisis deepens with rating downgrades, write-offs by mutual funds". livemint.com. 12 June 2019.
3. "SEBI | Annual Report 2021-22". 20. Bazaz, Shivani (7 June 2019). "Is your debt mutual fund scheme hit by DHFL crisis? Here is what you should do". The Economic Times.
4. Agarwal, Nikhil (24 May 2023). "50% mutual funds get redeemed within a year. Is long-term investing dead?". The Economic Times. 21. "Top mutual funds still have Rs 8,650 crore exposure to DHFL & four group entities". The Economic Times. 31 January 2019.
5. "Reserve Bank of India - RBI Bulletin". 22. Venkataramakrishnan, Rohan (10 June 2019). "Scroll Explainer: What happened to finance firm DHFL – and what that means for the Indian economy". Scroll.in.
6. "Mutual funds attract 6% of household savings in FY23, shows RBI data". Business Standard. 20 September 2023. 23. "Behind the UTI mess". Frontline. 20 July 2001.
7. "Reserve Bank of India - Household Financial Savings". 24. "Backstory: The US-64 crisis and how the government bailed out UTI investors - CNBC TV18". CNBCTV18. 27 December 2021.
8. "SPIVA India Scorecard" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 April 2023. 25. "UTI crisis: As Usual, public pays the price". The Times of India. 3 August 2001.
9. "Mutual Funds That Consistently Beat the Market? Not One of 2,132". New York Times. 2 December 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2023. 26. Srivats, K. R. (18 April 2019). "CCI approves DHFL's 50% stake-sale in Pramerica MF". BusinessLine.
10. Choi, James J. (2022). "Popular Personal Financial Advice versus the Professors". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 36 (4): 167–192. doi:10.1257/jep.36.4.167. ISSN 0895-3309. 27. "DHFL scam: Fake accounts, fraud borrowers used to transfer funds, finds auditor Grant Thornton". Business Today. 5 October 2020.
11. Malkiel, Burton G. (2013). "Asset Management Fees and the Growth of Finance". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 27 (2): 97–108. doi:10.1257/jep.27.2.97. ISSN 0895-3309. 28. "Reserve Bank of India - Press Releases". www.rbi.org.in.
12. Khanna, Surbhi (20 December 2023). "Equity mutual fund AUM increases 35% in 2023". The Economic Times. ISSN 0013-0389. Retrieved 19 April 2024. 29. "Reserve Bank of India - Press Releases". www.rbi.org.in.
13. "Which hybrid mutual funds contribute the maximum to category AUM? - Category AUM". The Economic Times. Retrieved 19 April 2024. 30. "Financial stress, RBI actions may hit depositor confidence, says YES Bank". BusinessLine. 15 March 2020.
14. "Reserve Bank of India - RBI Bulletin". www.rbi.org.in. Retrieved 19 April 2024. 31. "Why SEBI barred Kotak from launching new FMPs: A look back at 2019; maturity delayed but investors repaid". 28 August 2021.
15. "Indian regulator bans new Franklin Templeton debt funds for two years | Reuters". Reuters. 32. Iyengar, Suresh P. (3 July 2020). "HDFC MF recovers entire investment in Essel group NCDs". BusinessLine.
16. "All Assets In Closed Franklin Templeton MF Schemes Liquidated: SBI Funds". Outlook Business & Money. 22 August 2023. Retrieved 19 April 2024. 33. "Sebi issues show-cause notices to HDFC, Kotak mutual funds on Essel Group exposure". Business Today. 13 May 2019.
17. "Franklin Templeton mess: A liquidity mishap or a series of wrong, aggressive bets?". Moneycontrol. 25 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2024. 34. "Sahara Mutual Fund - Statement of additional information (SAI)" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 31 May 2024.

External links[edit]

Categories | Financial services companies of India | 1963 establishments in India

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