MFs assets drop 7% , UTI MF pips ICICI Pru for 3rd slot

2 Dec 2008, 1736 hrs IST, PTI

NEW DELHI: Amid volatility in stock markets , country's fund houses witnessed a nearly seven per cent decline in assets in November, while UTI Mutual Fund has bucked the
trend to become the third biggest fund in terms of assets under management, replacing ICICI Prudential.

The average assets under management (AUM) of the country's oldest fund house --UTI MF-- has increased about Rs 74 crore and stood at Rs 8,358.14 crore at November-end.

"We have been able to increase our AUM in such an uncertain time mainly because of investors' interest in fixed income product and rust factor," UTI Mutual Fund Chief Marketing Officer Jaideep Bhattacharya told PTI.

"We expect out positioning to improve further. In addition to this, the market share of ours is expected to be in double digits in days to come," he said. At present, the market share of the fund house stands at 9.54 per cent against 8.86 per cent last month.
UTI MF has raised about Rs 300 crore from the New Fund Offer last month. The money
raised from UTI Wealth Builder Fund would be reflected in the AUM figure of the next month.

On other hand, the combined average AUM of the 35 fund houses in the country saw an erosion of over Rs 29,831 crore and dropped to Rs 4,02,030 crore for the period under study.

Last month, the average AUM had been at Rs 4,31,901.42 crore, dropping below the Rs 5 trillion-mark for the first time this year, according to the data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India.

Top fund house Reliance MF suffered a sharp decline of Rs 3,278 crore or 4.61 per cent in its AUM, which fell below Rs 70,000 crore. Its average AUM stood at Rs 67,816 crore, down from Rs 71,094 crore at the end of October.