Mutual fund investors double in 4 years to 2.39 crore as of June end

MUMBAI: The number of mutual fund investors in has India doubled to 2.39 crore as of 30 June 2021 from 1.19 crore at the end of March 2017, according to NS Venkatesh, chief executive officer, Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi).

The number of investors is counted by unique PANs (Permanent Account Numbers) and includes both individuals and corporates. According to Venkatesh, the doubling is a sign of robust growth in the industry.

The growth in PAN numbers was particularly steep in the first quarter of FY22. The mutual fund industry added 12 lakh investors in the quarter, going from 2.27 crore to 2.39 crore. This was higher than the 20 lakh investors added in the whole of FY 2021 when the investor count went from 2.07 to 2.27 crore, according to numbers announced by Venkatesh. However this is a small fraction of the 42 crore PAN numbers in India.

"The visibility of the mutual fund industry increased greatly due to MF Sahi hai campaign launched in 2017. In addition, a lot of fintech platforms have come up in recent years, widening the reach of mutual funds. Plenty of investor education has been done by the industry as well and the media coverage on mutual funds, has gone up multi-fold over the past few years," said Kaustubh Belapurkar, director - manager research, Morningstar Investment Advisor India.

"The absolute number of mutual fund investors is still the tip of the iceberg and there is a long way to go," Belapurkar said.

According to him, the performance of equity markets in the past year would have also attracted investors. "In the first quarter of FY21-22, the huge returns made by people who stayed invested after the dip in the first wave of the pandemic would have increased confidence of people in mutual funds, particularly on the equity side and reinforced a positive message as a great long term investment option," he said.

"It is a positive development and heartening actually to see this kind of investor growth. But miles to go given the under penetration in India. I always say this is one of the best financial services businesses to be in because the pie can expand so much," said Radhika Gupta, CEO, Edelweiss Mutual Fund.