New Delhi: The mutual fund industry witnessed a fall of over Rs7,000 crore in its assets in March dropping below the Rs5 lakh crore mark, while HDFC Mutual Fund added over Rs1,000 crore to its assets under management during the month.

The combined average assets under management (AUM) of the 34 fund houses in the country saw an erosion of Rs7,709.10 crore, or 1.54%, and dropped to Rs4,93,264.28 crore at the end of March, according to the data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India.

At the end of February, the average AUM had been Rs5,00,973.38 crore.

However, HDFC MF registered an increase of Rs1,092.05 crore in its AUM. While other top four fund houses - Reliance MF, ICICI Prudential, UTI MF and LIC MF lost a combined over Rs4,308.53 crore from their assets in the month.

“Bank which invest mostly in liquid funds have withdrawn significantly as March was a financial year closing. This has led to a plunge in the assets of the fund houses,” Taurus Mutual Fund managing director R K Gupta said.

Reliance MF maintained its top position as the largest fund house in the country with an AUM of Rs80,962.94 crore at the end of March. Its AUM dipped by Rs664.14 crore in March. HDFC MF, the second-largest, added Rs1,092.05 crore to its AUM at Rs57,956.45 crore in March.