Mumbai: “Mutual funds are sitting on an enormous Rs13,957.4 crore cash and are waiting to deploy it in the market,” Sharekhan Ltd mutual fund analyst Sapna Jhawara said on Thursday.

“Mutual funds are sitting on a whopping Rs13,957.4 crore cash but fund managers are anticipating correction before deploying it in the market,” Jhawara said.

“MFs are well placed to maintain buying interest and propel the market forward,” she said adding: “Mutual funds bought stocks in banking and pharmaceutical sectors and slashed their exposure in power, telecom and oil and gas sectors in September 2009.”

Of the Rs13,957.4 crore lying with the existing MFs, Rs912 crore has been mobilised through new fund offerings (NFOs).

The total Assets Under Management (AUM) of equity MFs stood at Rs2,13,043.5 crore in September 2009, registering growth of 5.4% from August 2009. On adjusting for the net inflows/outflows, the growth stood at 6.4%—marginally lower than the growth in the market, which grew by 7.5% in the same period.

Birla Sun life Mutual Fund saw the largest increase of Rs2,008.9 crore in its AUM, followed by Baroda Pioneer and Canara Robeco Mutual Fund.