Page 27 - LINKPIN 2022-23

In addition, it has also led to an increase This shift has continued in 2021 and beyond,
in the number of people who want to invest accentuated by SEBI-driven initiatives towards
their money in mutual funds but do not have transparency and disclosures, he said.
enough savings or retirement plans set up yet. “Over the years, mutual fund industry too, has
This means that they need help with investing deepened its penetration, beyond top 15 cities,
their money so that they can get started with even as number of MF players has risen with
building an investment portfolio early on rather new fund houses coming in to mutual fund
than waiting until later in life when they might industry, enabling steady but sure rise in the
not be able to afford it anymore. number of investors who have been embracing

Changing trends mutual funds as the preferred savings tool,”
The Indian mutual fund industry has changed Venkatesh said.
significantly over the past few years because The number of mutual fund investors in the
of these two factors: it has become more country have doubled to 2.39 crore as of June
accessible to people across all social classes 30, 2021 from 1.19 crore at the end of March
to invest their money through mutual funds than 2017, thereby indicating that pandemic has had
ever before, and people are starting earlier than no impact on the inflows, he added.
ever before so that they can take advantage of The mutual fund industry AUM rose 4.9 per
better returns from investing early instead of cent in July 2021 to a record Rs 35.3 lakh crore
starting investing later. due to inflows into both equity funds and debt
More and more retail investors in the last one funds
and half years have come to the capital market In 2022, it is estimated that there will be around
as various other kinds of investment markets 1.88 crores registered mutual fund investors in
are not providing the investment returns that India as against 1.86 crore households with
they are used to. an annual income of more than Rs 10 lakh per

Some of the schemes of relatively new fund annum. The number of mutual funds being
houses have given blockbuster returns with offered, compared to previous years, is also
several of them coming from Quant Mutual increasing at an exponential rate.
Fund. As per the market estimates, ICICI An ICICI Direct Research report said that IT
Prudential Technology Fund, Quant Tax Plan funds have been consistent outperformers in
Fund, PGIM India Midcap Opportunities Fund, the last two to three years as the growth outlook
Quant Infrastructure Fund and Quant Active improved for the sector in the post Covid world
Fund are the top five equity funds giving best resulting in valuation re-rating of most stocks.
returns ranging from 80 per cent to over 100 per
cent. The sectors or segments like infrastructure,
PSUs that lagged behind in the early part of the
“So, retail investors are increasingly looking at rally, have started to gain traction indicating the
equity and the markets obviously are supportive healthy trend of sector rotation, it said.
and the markets are doing really well,” Mr Amit
Bivalkar of Sapient Wealth said. “Small cap funds have been consistent

N.S. Venkatesh, Chief Executive, Association outperformers in the last one year after they
were beaten down during the Covid pandemic
of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) said: “Mutual induced market fall. Midcaps also followed
Funds have emerged as the preferred savings- small cap funds and have outperformed other
cum-investment avenue over the last few categories. However, there seemed to be some
years, and the pandemic has actually triggered profit booking recently as it underperformed in
this shift towards Mutual Funds in a more the last one month.”
pronounced way.”

Linkipn 2022-23 | 24