Around 66 percent of the total money that mutual fund industry manages is controlled by bank-owned funds. This share rose by 8.9 percentage points between March 2015 and March 2022, shows an analysis of data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), reported Business Standard.
Bank-owned mutual funds account for 66.5 per cent of the ₹37.7 trillion managed by the industry.
Banks often push their own mutual fund products to customers, according to industry sources. Mutual funds without bank parentage have 2.3 per cent of their assets coming from related parties called associate distributors, shows an analysis of the top 10 fund houses.
For bank-owned mutual funds, the share of such assets is at 18.9 per cent.
Direct plans accounted for 33.8 per cent of assets as of March 2015. It has since increased by 11.8 percentage points as of March 2022.
Non-associate distributors have seen an 11.4 percentage point decline in the same period. Associate distributors’ share fell only 0.4 per cent. Direct plans accounted for 43.6 per cent of the institution-dominated debt segment in March 2015, according to the Amfi data.
| Year | Share of bank owned MFs in total (%) |
| 2016 | 57.6 |
| 2017 | 58 |
| 2018 | 58.3 |
| 2019 | 61.2 |
| 2020 | 64.8 |
| 2021 | 66.8 |
| 2022 | 66.5 |
This increased to 66.1 per cent in Mar 2022.
The direct share in equity funds, dominated by individual investors, increased from 11.2 per cent to 24.4 per cent during the same period. The share of individual investors investing in mutual funds is increasing, added Business Standard.
Their share went up from 46.2 per cent in March 2015 to 55.2 per cent in March 2022. The increased share of individual investor and the adoption of direct plans may well decide if bank-owned funds will continue to reign.