Fund managers are divided on the prospects for beaten-down information technology (IT) stocks, reflected in the wide variance in equity mutual funds' (MFs) sector exposure. An analysis by Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research shows that while six large fund houses were overweight the sector relative to its weight in the Nifty 200 index, five were underweight as of October 2025. UTI MF had the highest exposure at 17.8 per cent, while SBI MF sat at the bottom with 5 per cent.
The competitive intensity in the mutual fund (MF) industry is moving beyond scheme performance, cost structures, and distribution. In recent months, several fund houses have rationalised exit loads applicable on redemptions.
The asset manager is yet to resolve the impasse surrounding the payment of pension to its erstwhile employees who had opted for voluntary retirement in 2003.
Reliance Mutual Fund has toppled UTI MF to become the country's largest fund house in January with assets under management of more than Rs 39,000 crore (Rs 390 billion).
UTI Mutual Fund will hit the capital markets with initial public offering on Tuesday for its sixth thematic funds including auto, banking and public sector undertakings.
UTI Mutual Fund has targeted to raise at least Rs 5,000 crore by distributing its products through bank branches over the next 12 months.
UTI Mutual Fund will shortly launch auto sector fund and portfolio management scheme (PMS) even as it forged a tie-up with Corpration Bank to distribute mutual fund schemes through the latter's branch network in the country.
The government is likely to consider a proposal to privatise UTI Mutual Fund after the completion of the valuation and due diligence process, Union Finance Secretary S Narayan said on Tuesday.
More than 50 per cent of SIP accounts come from semi-urban and rural areas.
Backed by their strong physical presence across the country, UTI Mutual Fund and SBI Mutual Fund (MF) have managed to mobilise a higher proportion of their total assets under management (AUM) from towns and villages than their peers. Data compiled by Nuvama Institutional Equities shows that UTI MF and SBI MF are the only two major fund houses with over a fifth of their AUM coming from areas beyond the top 30 cities (referred to as B-30). UTI MF tops the chart with 23.8 per cent of its assets belonging to B-30 centres, followed by SBI MF with 21.2 per cent B-30 assets. The industry average stands at 17 per cent.
HDFC Bank's latest shareholding data showed that the room for foreign investment has fallen just 5 basis points short of the threshold set by Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) to fully include the stock in its indices. Currently, the index provider has applied an adjustment factor of 0.5 since the foreign room is less than 25 per cent. Removal of the adjustment factor will result in inflows of a massive $4.8 billion (Rs 40,000 crore) into HDFC Bank, according to Brian Freitas, a New Zealand-based analyst with Periscope Analytics.
UTI MF will also launch six more schemes as part of its growth plans.
UTI Asset Management Company, the country's fourth-largest mutual fund, is reviewing its proposed initial public offering in view of the turbulence in the global financial markets and the meltdown in Indian equities. The management is having a rethink on the IPO because of the bearish sentiment prevailing in the markets and a lack of investor appetite, according to a source familiar with the development.
The country's biggest mutual fund, UTI Mutual Fund, on Monday announced the launch of its new scheme 'UTI-Dividend Yield Fund', which will invest in 60-70 high dividend yield stocks.
Unit Trust of India Mutual Fund, which commenced operations at the beginning of this month, is targeting to double its Assets Under Management to Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion) in the next 12 months, chairman and managing diector M Damodaran said.
The IPO is an offer for sale of 38 million shares by SBI, BOB, LIC, PNB and T Rowe Price. Barring T Rowe and PNB, the others are selling stake to comply with Sebi norms.
The move follows the near Rs 60 crore (Rs 600 million) redemptions every month from the US-64 and ARS bonds in the last couple of years.
UTI Asset Management Company will float an initial public offer by March-end 2008 to help its sponsors State Bank of India, Life Insurance Corporation, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda -- offload up to 50 per cent stake.
T S Vijayan, whose five-term as the chairman of government-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) ended on Tuesday, is likely to shift to UTI Mutual Fund as the new head.
UTI Mutual Fund plans to foray into the pension sector once the government sets up Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority in October this year.
Fund houses are exploring ways to differentiate themselves in the hybrid space. A relatively unknown hybrid fund variant, Balanced Hybrid, is about to see its first launch since the introduction of mutual fund (MF) scheme categorisation norms in 2017. WhiteOak Capital MF has filed papers with the regulator for this scheme, which comes amid increasing interest in the hybrid space. MFs anticipate that hybrids will become the preferred category for investors with a lower risk appetite following changes in debt fund taxation.
The country's leading fund manager UTI Mutual Fund is likely to enter the capital market with its public issue by the end of current fiscal and has already got the approval from its board for the IPO.
'Midcap and smallcap indices are trading in the expensive zone.'
Life Insurance Corporation and UTI Mutual Fund are in the fray for entering the lucrative pension business, which is slated to grow to Rs 50,000 crore (Rs 500 billion) by 2010.
Four regionally strong banks -- Bank of India, Corporation Bank, Allahabad Bank and Oriental Bank of Commerce -- are in the fray to buy out sponsor's stake in UTI Mutual Fund that manages assets worth Rs 20,000 crore
The net inflows into active equity mutual fund (MF) schemes registered more than a twofold month-on-month rise in August, crossing Rs 20,000 crore, the highest in five months. This rise in net inflows was boosted by an 18 per cent growth in gross investments, driven by a record Rs 15,800 crore inflow through the systematic investment plan (SIP) route and Rs 5,000 crore collected by seven new fund offers (NFOs) in the active equity space, reveals data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi). Moreover, redemptions moderated in August, declining by 19 per cent to Rs 24,580 crore, after staying elevated in the previous three months owing to profit booking.
The government is not in favour of selling UTI Mutual Fund to a private player and has insisted that one of the existing sponsors buy it by this fiscal.
India's mutual fund (MF) industry had barely any retail footprint when it completed 50 years in 2013. MFs had Rs 7 trillion in assets under management (AUM) in March 2013, of which around Rs 5 trillion was in institution-focused debt funds. By comparison, bank deposits in the country stood at Rs 67.5 trillion around the same time.
Experts say the impact on the schemes' NAVs may vary in the coming days, depending upon how fund houses treat the developments on VIL and whether there are any further rating downgrades or credit events.
Many are now hoping the markets remain in good stead as they look to finalise the dates for IPOs, such as UTI MF, Computer Age Management Services, Happiest Mind, and Angel Broking. Most of the issues are expected to come to the market in the second half of September.
The scheme encourages retail investors to participate in capital markets.
"Fund houses look at merging schemes where there is a duplicity of content or if the scheme has been underperforming historically," says Aashish Somaiya, head (retail business), ICICI Prudential AMC.
The number of fund houses are increasing each year in the fast growing Indian economy but when it comes about the size, the top five players control over half of the country's mutual fund business.
HDFC MF witnessed 17% rise in investment in its schemes to Rs 6,462 crore by group companies during May.
Mutual fund houses hold Rs 3,400 crore of Yes Bank's 'riskier' bonds. Reliance MF, Franklin Templeton MF and UTI MF account for bulk of these exposures.
The government on Thursday appointed PSU mutual funds UTI MF and SBI MF as managers of the corpus lying with postal and rural life insurance entities, a move that could lead to investment of the sum into the booming capital market.
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