Who owns Indian equity MF AUM and how much?

10 May 2023 , 09:43 AM

That is an approximate per folio value of Rs2.71 lakhs. However, this could be a little skewed since corporate AUM sizes are much larger as compared to retail AUM sizes. 

Here we shall not focus on the money market and debt funds where retail action may be limited. Instead, the focus would be on active and passive equity oriented funds, where the retail investors still have a substantial share in terms of folios, if not on AUM. These may not be pure equity funds but with a good component of equities in them.

Ownership of Growth oriented equity schemes AUM

Here is the break-up of the AUM of growth oriented equity funds by category, both in terms of AUM and in terms of number of folios.

Investor Classification	AUM (Rs. Cr)	% to Total	No of Folios	% to Total
Corporates	1,38,169	9.07	6,02,313	0.61
Banks/FIs	565	0.04	1,006	–
FIIs	2,592	0.17	74	–
High Net Worth Individuals	5,66,554	37.19	65,21,711	6.61
Retail	8,15,404	53.53	9,15,23,742	92.78
Total	15,23,282	100.00	9,86,48,846	100.00

Data Source: AMFI

What are the key takeaways from the ownership mix of AUM of equity oriented funds. At a macro level, these equity oriented funds have a total AUM of Rs15.23 trillion. This translates into 38.64% of the overall AUM of Indian mutual funds and remains a key contributor. In terms of ownership, the retail ownership is dominant both by AUM and by number of folios. 

For instance, the retail investors account for 53.5% of the total AUM while they account for a whopping 92.8% of all folios of growth oriented funds. Corporates and banks are virtually marginally players in the equity oriented funds space with only HNIs following close behind with an AUM market share of 37.2%.

Ownership of Hybrid Schemes AUM

Here is the break-up of the AUM of hybrid funds (combinations of debt and equity) by category, both in terms of AUM and in terms of number of folios.

Investor Classification	AUM (Rs. Cr)	% to Total	No of Folios	% to Total
Corporates	55,588	11.61	1,01,459	0.84
Banks/FIs	243	0.05	205	–
FIIs	258	0.05	31	–
High Net Worth Individuals	3,22,794	67.40	27,45,163	22.60
Retail	1,00,034	20.89	92,98,705	76.56
Total	4,78,917	100.00	1,21,45,563	100.00

Data Source: AMFI

What are the key gleanings from the ownership mix of AUM of hybrid funds. At a macro level, these equity oriented funds have a total AUM of Rs4.79 trillion. This translates into 12.2% of the overall AUM of Indian mutual funds and remains a strong emerging player in terms of AUM accretion. In terms of ownership, the HNI ownership is dominant by AUM while retail still dominates by number of folios. 

For instance, the HNI investors account for 67.4% of the total AUM but just 22.6% of all the folios of hybrid funds. Banks are virtually marginally players in the hybrid funds space although corporate share is picking up in double digits. Retail investors have a 76.6% ownership of folios of hybrid funds while the HNIs own 22.6% of the folios.

Ownership of Index Funds AUM

Here is the break-up of the AUM of Index funds by category, both in terms of AUM and in terms of number of folios.

Investor Classification	AUM (Rs. Cr)	% to Total	No of Folios	% to Total
Corporates	85,435	51.00	25,464	0.66
Banks/FIs	772	0.46	110	–
FIIs	12	0.01	5	–
High Net Worth Individuals	63,617	37.98	2,74,553	7.13
Retail	17,681	10.55	35,53,113	92.21
Total	1,67,517	100.00	38,53,245	100.00

Data Source: AMFI

What are the key bullets we gather from the ownership mix of AUM of index funds. At a macro level, these index funds have a total AUM of Rs1.68 trillion. This translates into 4.26% of the overall AUM of Indian mutual funds and is an emerging player in terms of AUM accretion. In terms of ownership, corporate ownership is dominant by AUM while retail still dominates by number of folios. 

For instance, the corporate investors account for 51.0% of the total AUM while HNIs account for 38.0% of the AUM and retail just 10.6%. However, if you look at the ownership by number of folios, then retail dominates at 92.21, followed by individuals at 7.13%. 

Ownership of Gold ETF AUM

Here is the break-up of the AUM of gold ETFs by category, both in terms of AUM and in terms of number of folios. This is a small category but an alternate class nevertheless.

Investor Classification	AUM (Rs. Cr)	% to Total	No of Folios	% to Total
Corporates	11,787	51.84	8,886	0.19
Banks/FIs	1	0.01	5	–
FIIs	–	–	–	–
High Net worth Individuals	8,415	37.01	51,678	1.10
Retail	2,534	11.14	46,38,968	98.71
Total	22,737	100.00	46,99,537	100.00

Data Source: AMFI

What are the key takeaways we take home from the ownership mix of AUM of gold ETFs? At a macro level, these gold ETFs have a total AUM of Rs0.23 trillion. This translates into a mere 0.60% of the overall AUM of Indian mutual funds. However, gold ETFs have to compete with a number of products like physical gold, digital gold, and sovereign gold bonds; with the last one paying 2.5% interest too. 

In terms of ownership, corporate ownership is dominant by AUM while retail still dominates by number of folios. For instance, the corporate investors account for 51.8% of the total AUM while HNIs account for 37.01% of the AUM and retail just 11.14%. However, if you look at the ownership by number of folios, then retail dominates at 98.71%, with the others lagging way behind, which his not surprising considering that the retail ticket sizes are much smaller.

Ownership of Index ETF AUM

Finally, here is the break-up of the index ETFs (which includes equity and debt index ETFs) by category, both in terms of AUM and in terms of number of folios.

Investor Classification	AUM (Rs. Cr)	% to Total	No of Folios	% to Total
Corporates	4,38,909	90.63	54,567	0.45
Banks/FIs	1,530	0.32	27	–
FIIs	69	0.01	10	–
High Net worth Individuals*	34,049	7.03	1,73,712	1.44
Retail	9,720	2.01	1,18,35,882	98.11
Total	4,84,277	100.00	1,20,64,198	100.00

Data Source: AMFI

What are the key learnings from the ownership mix of AUM of index ETFs? At a macro level, these index ETFs have a total AUM of Rs4.84 trillion. This translates into a healthy 12.3% of the overall AUM of Indian mutual funds. However, index ETFs are a very elaborate category and comprise of funds indexed to equity funds and bonds funds, with many of them being the government sponsored ones. In terms of ownership, corporate ownership is dominant by AUM while retail still dominates by number of folios. 

For instance, the corporate investors account for 90.6% of the total AUM while HNIs account for 7.03% of the AUM and retail just 2.01%. However, if you look at the ownership by number of folios, then retail dominates at 98.11%, with the others lagging way behind, which is hardly surprising considering that the retail ticket sizes are much smaller.

Some broad trends emerge from the above ownership analysis of mutual funds as on March 2023. Equity fund is the one space that is dominated by the retail investors both in terms of AUM and in terms of number of folios. At the same time, HNIs have shown a lot of traction investing in hybrid funds while it is the corporates that are more active in index funds and index ETFs. At a broad level, the retail interest in passive forms is just about building up.