What is MUTUAL FUNDS?
A Mutual fund is a pool of funds contributed by individuals and nonindividual entities and managed with a specific defined objective and in compliance with the regulations. The popularity of mutual funds is because of the variety of needs that they address, ease of transaction, transparency, stringent regulation, flexibility, favourable taxation, and a host of other convenient factors.
Mutual funds invest across asset classes, have varying risk, return profiles to suit a variety of investor preferences. They are a convenient tool to achieve life’s important goals as it is possible to match your investment time horizons with those of a mutual fund. They are equally useful in both financial planning and wealth management.
In India, there are 44 Asset Management companies, and together between them have an AUM –Assets Under Management of Rs 27.01 lakh crores ( as of March 2020 source ICRA). The list of AMCs and their AUMs is given below.
AMC wise Quarterly Average AUM
| Mutual Fund Name | No. of Funds | QAAUM Date | QAAUM (Rs. Cr) | Prev Date | Prev QAAUM (Rs. Cr) | Inc/Dcr (Rs. Cr) |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund | 165 | Mar-20 | 247521.68 | Dec-19 | 249925.99 | -2404.31 |
| Axis Mutual Fund | 58 | Mar-20 | 138401.62 | Dec-19 | 122867.23 | 15534.39 |
| Baroda Mutual Fund | 21 | Mar-20 | 11792.98 | Dec-19 | 11137.72 | 655.26 |
| BNP Paribas Mutual Fund | 18 | Mar-20 | 7640.07 | Dec-19 | 7724.38 | -84.31 |
| BOI AXA Mutual Fund | 16 | Mar-20 | 2269.7 | Dec-19 | 2322.14 | -52.44 |
| Canara Robeco Mutual Fund | 23 | Mar-20 | 17913.22 | Dec-19 | 17281.38 | 631.84 |
| DSP Mutual Fund | 72 | Mar-20 | 80395.64 | Dec-19 | 77187.03 | 3208.61 |
| Edelweiss Mutual Fund | 36 | Mar-20 | 24466.11 | Dec-19 | 12408.91 | 12057.2 |
| Essel Mutual Fund | 10 | Mar-20 | 762.79 | Dec-19 | 855.29 | -92.5 |
| Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund | 82 | Mar-20 | 116222.95 | Dec-19 | 126374.81 | -10151.86 |
| HDFC Mutual Fund | 122 | Mar-20 | 369782.8 | Dec-19 | 382517.03 | -12734.23 |
| HSBC Mutual Fund | 35 | Mar-20 | 11317 | Dec-19 | 11245.14 | 71.86 |
| ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund | 242 | Mar-20 | 350634.37 | Dec-19 | 361394.97 | -10760.6 |
| IDBI Mutual Fund | 22 | Mar-20 | 5030.93 | Dec-19 | 5088.64 | -57.71 |
| IDFC Mutual Fund | 59 | Mar-20 | 103893.16 | Dec-19 | 104611.07 | -717.91 |
| IIFCL Mutual Fund | 2 | Mar-20 | 571.04 | 0 | 571.04 | |
| IIFL Mutual Fund | 3 | Mar-20 | 1832.44 | Dec-19 | 1231.52 | 600.92 |
| IL & FS Mutual Fund | 5 | Mar-20 | 1237.79 | 0 | 1237.79 | |
| Indiabulls Mutual Fund | 18 | Mar-20 | 1549.59 | Dec-19 | 1452.63 | 96.96 |
| Invesco Mutual Fund | 46 | Mar-20 | 25660.22 | Dec-19 | 25177.77 | 482.45 |
| ITI Mutual Fund | 8 | Mar-20 | 526.8 | Dec-19 | 170.28 | 356.52 |
| JM Financial Mutual Fund | 15 | Mar-20 | 6109.27 | Dec-19 | 5683.03 | 426.24 |
| Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund | 100 | Mar-20 | 186081.33 | Dec-19 | 176961.15 | 9120.18 |
| L&T Mutual Fund | 41 | Mar-20 | 71055.79 | Dec-19 | 71587.1 | -531.31 |
| LIC Mutual Fund | 25 | Mar-20 | 16323.96 | Dec-19 | 16337 | -13.04 |
| Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund | 13 | Mar-20 | 5396.27 | Dec-19 | 5258.47 | 137.8 |
| Mirae Asset Mutual Fund | 18 | Mar-20 | 43200.31 | Dec-19 | 39349.03 | 3851.28 |
| Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund | 20 | Mar-20 | 19956.36 | Dec-19 | 20281.32 | -324.96 |
| Nippon India Mutual Fund | 212 | Mar-20 | 204857.79 | Dec-19 | 204370.52 | 487.27 |
| PGIM India Mutual Fund | 44 | Mar-20 | 4331.77 | Dec-19 | 4038.19 | 293.58 |
| PPFAS Mutual Fund | 3 | Mar-20 | 3137.64 | Dec-19 | 2770.38 | 367.26 |
| PRINCIPAL Mutual Fund | 23 | Mar-20 | 6403.41 | Dec-19 | 6729.79 | -326.38 |
| Quant Mutual Fund | 13 | Mar-20 | 248.56 | Dec-19 | 81.52 | 167.04 |
| Quantum Mutual Fund | 10 | Mar-20 | 1361.63 | Dec-19 | 1457.13 | -95.5 |
| Sahara Mutual Fund | 11 | Mar-20 | 0 | Dec-19 | 50.13 | -50.13 |
| SBI Mutual Fund | 150 | Mar-20 | 373498.27 | Dec-19 | 352631.93 | 20866.34 |
| Shriram Mutual Fund | 4 | Mar-20 | 182.28 | Dec-19 | 184.62 | -2.34 |
| Sundaram Mutual Fund | 75 | Mar-20 | 31279.71 | Dec-19 | 31397.76 | -118.05 |
| Tata Mutual Fund | 60 | Mar-20 | 52469.81 | Dec-19 | 52209.59 | 260.22 |
| Taurus Mutual Fund | 9 | Mar-20 | 416.56 | Dec-19 | 431.34 | -14.78 |
| Union Mutual Fund | 17 | Mar-20 | 4057.75 | Dec-19 | 4284.54 | -226.79 |
| UTI Mutual Fund | 182 | Mar-20 | 151512.5 | Dec-19 | 157119.09 | -5606.59 |
| YES Mutual Fund | 3 | Mar-20 | 252.52 | Dec-19 | 395.27 | -142.75 |
Mutual funds can be classified in the following ways which can also be overlapping
1. Based on Asset Class composition — Equity oriented, Debt oriented, Balanced Fund, Arbitrage Fund, Multi-Asset Fund, Gold Fund, Commodities Fund, Equity Hybrid Fund, Debt oriented hybrid fund, overseas assets.
Within equities, depending on the composition—–Large Cap, Midcap, Small Cap, Multi cap, Focussed, Diversified, sectoral, or based on the philosophy– Value or Growth.
Within Debt funds —-Duration, Credit Risk, Liquid, Short Term, Gilt, Medium Term, Long term etc.
2. Based on the way it is managed — Static or Dynamic, Asset Allocation
3. Based on the structure of the fund — Open-Ended or Closed-ended, Interval fund, locked fund.
Mutual funds have come a long way since private mutual funds were floated in the early nineties and are now one of the most convenient vehicles to save and invest especially, for the individuals who lack the knowledge and time to make informed decisions. Mutual funds have had their share of problems. However by and large mutual fund investors who have invested based on advice have had a happy investing experience on account of the outperformance vis-à-vis traditional instruments.