Mutual fund folios struggle to 23.63 Crore in April 2025

13 May 2025 , 09:40 AM

MUTUAL FUNDS ADD JUST 18 LAKH FOLIOS IN APRIL 2025

In the last 4 months, mutual fund folio addition is down to a crawl, largely because SIP folios are actually contracting. Overall folios added by mutual funds were 31 Lakhs in February, 22 Lakhs in March, and just 18 Lakhs in April 2025. It has been a virtual crawl as a spike in SIP closures is putting pressure on overall folio count. These are just unique mutual fund accounts (folios), and unique investors in mutual funds mapped by PAN is just 5.5 Crore. Over last 11 years, mutual fund folios have grown 5.98 times from 3.95 Crore to 23.63 Crore. Incidentally, SIP stoppage ratio has spiked  to almost 300% in April 2025.

MF FOLIOS: MACRO PICTURE FOR APRIL 2025

Here is the macro picture of mutual fund folio growth for April 2025; across open-ended and close-ended funds?

Macro picture	Total Folios Apr-25	Total Folios Apr-24	Folio Growth
Open ended Funds	23,57,81,584	18,09,08,486	30.33%
Closed Ended and Interval Funds	5,13,440	5,59,800	-8.28%
Grand Total	23,62,95,024	18,14,68,286	30.21%

Data Source: AMFI 

At a macro level, the total number of mutual fund folios as of April 2025 stood at 23.63 Crore; compared to 23.45 Crore in March, 23.23 Crore in February, 22.92 Crore in January, and 22.50 Crore in December. On a yoy basis, growth in total folios for April 2025 stood at 30.21%; compared to 31.85% in March, 33.34% in February, 35.17% in January, and 36.46% in December 2024. SIP closures has clearly slowed the progress of SIP folio build-up.

ACTIVE DEBT FUND FOLIOS CONTRACT, BUT GAINING TRACTION

Debt fund folios have been under pressure for last couple of years and that trend continues; although the trend is starting to favour debt funds. Debt fund folios as of April 2025 contracted by -1.15% yoy; compared to -3.0% in March, -3.69% in February, and -4.45% in January 2025. Overnight funds, credit risk funds, and floater funds have seen the sharpest contraction in folios in April 2025.

Active Debt Funds	Total Folios Apr-25	Total Folios Apr-24	Folio Growth
Long Duration Fund	94,353	66,056	42.84%
Gilt Fund	2,23,026	1,88,788	18.14%
Liquid Fund	19,12,584	17,95,314	6.53%
Ultra Short Duration Fund	6,72,543	6,37,892	5.43%
Dynamic Bond Fund	2,30,028	2,19,635	4.73%
Short Duration Fund	4,63,334	4,48,556	3.29%
Medium to Long Duration Fund	1,03,165	1,00,474	2.68%
Money Market Fund	4,41,187	4,32,420	2.03%
Gilt Fund with 10-Y duration	36,986	37,674	-1.83%
Corporate Bond Fund	5,34,052	5,50,184	-2.93%
Medium Duration Fund	2,19,285	2,26,970	-3.39%
Low Duration Fund	8,38,798	8,77,232	-4.38%
Banking and PSU Fund	2,37,042	2,54,666	-6.92%
Floater Fund	1,97,464	2,14,429	-7.91%
Credit Risk Fund	1,81,652	2,05,509	-11.61%
Overnight Fund	6,51,034	8,62,266	-24.50%
Sub Total – Active Debt Funds	70,36,533	71,18,065	-1.15%

Data Source: AMFI

Out of the 16 categories of debt funds, 8 categories showed positive growth in folios, with each of these 8 categories growing by over 2% yoy in April 2025. The leader in terms of folio growth was, Long Duration Funds at 42.84% yoy, followed by gilt funds at 18.14%. Overnight funds again saw folio contraction of -24.50% and credit risk folios contracted of -11.61% yoy. A total of 4 debt fund categories saw yoy folio contraction of more than 6%.

ACTIVE EQUITY FUNDS ADD 3.94 CRORE FOLIOS YOY

In April 2025, active equity funds added 3.94 Crore folios; compared to 4.10 Crore folios in March, 4.23 Crore folios in February, and 4.41 Crore folios in January 2025. For active equity funds, the yoy folio expansion for April 2025 tapered to 31.39%; compared to 33.38% in March, 35.22% in February, 37.9% in January, and 39.4% in December 2024. The rate of growth has been progressively falling.

Active Equity Funds	Total Folios Apr-25	Total Folios Apr-24	Folio Growth
Sectoral/Thematic Funds	3,08,95,904	1,90,67,350	62.04%
Multi Cap Fund	96,35,087	62,83,413	53.34%
Mid Cap Fund	2,13,10,959	1,43,80,224	48.20%
Dividend Yield Fund	12,00,423	9,01,907	33.10%
Value Fund/Contra Fund	83,07,959	63,48,393	30.87%
Small Cap Fund	2,51,41,474	1,94,02,862	29.58%
Large & Mid Cap Fund	1,19,57,644	94,58,793	26.42%
Flexi Cap Fund	1,82,09,314	1,45,35,204	25.28%
Large Cap Fund	1,60,90,916	1,38,58,639	16.11%
ELSS	1,69,74,967	1,62,28,330	4.60%
Focused Fund	52,33,413	50,87,570	2.87%
Sub Total – Active Equity Funds	16,49,58,060	12,55,52,685	31.39%

Data Source: AMFI

In April 2025, all 11 active equity fund categories witnessed accretion in folios; although the growth in folios was in single digits in case of focused funds and ELSS funds. The big boost to folio accretion in equity funds came from sectoral / thematic funds at 62.04%; followed by multi-cap funds at 53.34%, mid-cap funds at 48.20%, and dividend yield funds at 33.10%. A total of 5 equity fund categories saw folio accretion of over 30%. This list includes sectoral funds, multi-cap funds, mid-cap funds, dividend yield funds, and contra funds. One trend is that the obsession to hunt for alpha through sectoral themes appears to be waning.

HYBRID FUNDS – ALLOCATION STILL A STRONG THEME

All the 8 Hybrid and solution funds showed yoy growth in folios; but 4 out of the 8 hybrid fund category funds only managed single-digit yoy growth in April 2025.

Hybrid / Solution Funds	Total Folios Apr-25	Total Folios Apr-24	Folio Growth
Multi Asset Allocation Fund	31,21,223	21,01,004	48.56%
Arbitrage Fund	6,13,752	5,04,940	21.55%
Equity Savings Fund	4,80,108	4,15,199	15.63%
Dynamic Asset Allocation/BAF	52,52,235	46,55,854	12.81%
Balanced Hybrid Fund	57,86,464	54,42,365	6.32%
Retirement Fund	29,99,887	28,81,792	4.10%
Children’s Fund	30,84,694	29,88,784	3.21%
Conservative Hybrid Fund	5,50,659	5,38,841	2.19%
Sub Total – Hybrid Funds	2,18,89,022	1,95,28,779	12.09%

Data Source: AMFI

The 8 hybrid funds added 23.6 Lakh folios in the last 1 year; with only 4 out of these 8 reporting double-digit folio growth. The best folio growth was once again in multi asset allocation funds at 48.56%, followed by Arbitrage funds at 21.55%, Equity Savings Funds at 15.63%, and Balanced Advantage Funds (BAFs) at 12.81%. Asset allocation has emerged as a powerful hybrid theme; while arbitrage funds are giving liquid fund a run for their money. Hybrid fund folios grew 12.09% yoy in April 2025; compared to  12.39% in March, 12.70% yoy in February, 12.70% in January, and 14.28% in December, 2024. Hybrid funds may also be losing out on folio addition, but remains a strong allocation theme.

PASSIVE FUNDS ADD 1.32 CRORE FOLIOS IN LAST ONE YEAR

The big story among passive funds in April 2025 was that it was only the second month in the last 1 year, when monthly inflows had crossed ₹20,000 Crore. Here is a quick dekko.

Passive Funds	Total Folios Apr-25	Total Folios Apr-24	Folio Growth
Index Funds	1,31,42,219	79,83,396	64.62%
Other ETFs	2,02,28,722	1,40,29,727	44.18%
GOLD ETF	71,44,848	51,83,711	37.83%
Fund of funds investing overseas	13,82,180	15,12,123	-8.59%
Sub Total – Passive Funds	4,18,97,969	2,87,08,957	45.94%

Data Source: AMFI

International Fund of Funds (FOF) saw contraction in folios for the eighth month in a row. Index funds dominated folio growth at 64.62%, followed by index ETFs at 44.18%, while gold ETFs held investor interest at 37.83% in April 2025. Passive fund folio growth in April 2025 stood at 45.94%; compared to 48.31% in March, 50.15% in February, 50.92% in January, and 52.4% in December 2024. Growth in passive folios may be gradually waning, but they have surely regained investor mind-space in the last 2 months.