Retail investors hold over 60% mutual fund assets, 86% in equity alone, reveals AMFI data

Upon spotting the trends for the mutual fund industry for the month of July, it is quite evident that increasingly a higher number of investors have started to invest in mutual fund schemes.

Sample this: out of every five-rupee worth industry assets in the mutual fund universe, three are held by individual investors while the remaining by institutional investors, reveals the AMFI industry trends for the month of July 2024.

It is also noteworthy that the total assets managed by the mutual fund industry spiked nearly 40 percent (39.83 percent to be precise) from ₹46.28 trillion in July 2023 to ₹64.71 trillion in July 2024.

Retail investors

As a result of growing inclination of retail investors to invest in financial markets via mutual funds, more assets are now held by individual investors in comparison to their institutional counterparts.

Individual investors now hold a higher share of industry assets i.e., 61 percent in July 2024, as compared with 57.5 percent in July 2023, reveals AMFI industry trends.

At the same time, institutional investors account for 39 percent of the assets, of which corporations are 95 percent. The rest are Indian and foreign institutions and banks.

Another data point that shows inclination towards individual investors is that 88 percent of mutual fund assets come from individual investors (retail and high-net-worth individuals).

Meanwhile, institutional investors dominate liquid and money market schemes (88 percent), debt-oriented schemes (63 percent) and ETFs, FOFs (90 percent).

Love for equity

It is seen that a vast majority of individual assets are held in equity assets. 86 percent of individual investor assets are held in equity-oriented schemes, 9 percent in debt schemes, 3 percent in money market schemes and only 2 percent in ETFs/ fund of funds.

Meanwhile, 53 percent of institution assets are held in liquid/money market schemes and debt-oriented schemes, 29 percent in ETFs/ FOFs and only 18 percent in equity-oriented schemes.

Overall, the proportionate share of equity-oriented schemes is 59.9 percent of the industry assets in July 2024, 7.9 percent higher than 52 percent in July 2023.

The corresponding data for debt-oriented schemes is 14.6 percent in July 2024, down from 19.4 percent in July 2023.