The first introduction of a mutual fund in India occurred in 1963, when the GovernmentGovernment of India launched the Unit Trust of India (UTI).[1] Mutual funds are broadly categorised into three segments: equity funds, hybrid funds, and debt funds.
Mutual funds in India
The first introduction of a mutual fund in India occurred in 1963, when the Government of India launched the Unit Trust of India (UTI).[1] Mutual funds are broadly categorised into three segments: equity funds, hybrid funds, and debt funds.
Mutual fund statistics
The total Assets Under Management (AUM) of the Indian mutual fund industry as of December 31, 2023, stood at a staggering ₹50.78 trillion (US$600 billion). This is a significant milestone, marking over a six-fold increase compared to the ₹8.26 trillion (US$98 billion) recorded in December 2013.[2]
According to SEBI, during FY 2022–23, 73% of mutual fund units were redeemed within 2 years of investment. Only investments in 3% of the units continued for more than 5 years.[3][4]
According to the Reserve Bank of India report, mutual funds attracted 6% of household savings in FY2023 and less than 1% went into direct equities.[5][6][7] Almost 95% of household savings in India park their money in bank deposits, including fixed deposit, provident fund, PPF, life insurance, and various small savings schemes.[5][6][7]
According to the S&P SPIVA Report FY2022, over a 10-year period, approximate 68% of the large-cap actively managed funds failed to beat their respective benchmarks, and over 50% failed to beat their benchmarks in the mid- and small-cap segments.[8] Within the ELSS funds category, over 60% failed to beat their respective benchmarks over 10 year period.[8] Globally, over long periods of time, passively managed funds consistently outperform actively managed funds.[9][10][11]
List of Mutual fund companies/schemes bankrupted, defaulted or closed
2020 Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund fiasco
In April 2020, Franklin Templeton India unexpectedly wound up six credit funds with assets of close to $4 billion, citing a lack of liquidity amid the coronavirus pandemic. These funds had large exposure to higher-yielding, lower-rated credit securities. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) conducted a probe into this sudden closure and found “serious lapses and violations”. As a result, in June 2021, SEBI barred Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund from launching any new debt schemes for two years. The regulator also ordered the fund house to refund investment and advisory fees, along with interest, of more than 5 billion rupees, and fined the global giant another 50 million rupees.[15][16][17][18]
Franklin Templeton said it strongly disagreed with the SEBI’s order and planned to appeal against it. The decision to wind up the schemes “was taken with the sole objective of preserving value for unitholders”, a spokesperson said. However, the closure of these funds sparked panic withdrawals from other Franklin Templeton schemes as well as credit funds of other asset managers, leading to a storm on social media and court cases by distraught investors.[18][15][17]
Reliance Mutual Fund
In 2019, the debt schemes of Reliance Mutual Fund faced a liquidity crisis due to their exposure to troubled companies like Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL). This led to severe redemptions and forced asset sales, which significantly affected investors.[19][20]
Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) crisis and impact
The Dewan Housing Finance Corporation (DHFL) crisis had a profound impact on the Indian mutual fund industry. DHFL's defaults created a severe liquidity crunch, making it difficult for mutual funds to meet redemption pressures without selling assets at heavily discounted prices. This crisis raised significant concerns about the creditworthiness of housing finance companies (HFCs) and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), leading to downgrades of DHFL's debt instruments and adversely affecting the net asset values (NAVs) of mutual funds holding these securities.[32][33][34][35]
Investor confidence in debt mutual funds, especially those with high exposure to HFCs and NBFCs, was severely shaken, resulting in substantial outflows as investors sought safer investments. In response, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) increased scrutiny and introduced tighter regulations on mutual funds' exposure to individual issuers and sectors to mitigate such risks in the future. Fund managers adjusted their portfolios by shifting towards higher-quality and more liquid assets, reducing exposure to high-risk debt instruments. The crisis underscored the importance of credit quality and liquidity management, prompting regulatory reforms and a more cautious approach within the mutual fund industry.[32][33][34][35]
2001 UTI Mutual Fund (Unit Trust of India) fiasco
The Unit Trust of India (UTI) faced a significant crisis in 2001, which was primarily due to large-scale redemption pressures and mismanagement, particularly in its flagship scheme, US-6412. The crisis was exacerbated by the Ketan Parekh scam, which caused a sharp decline in stock prices, leading to mutual funds, including UTI’s schemes, suffering severe consequences.[36][37][38]
The government intervened to protect investors and restructured UTI. This restructuring led to the bifurcation of UTI into two separate entities in 2003: the UTI Mutual Fund (now managed by the UTI Trustee Company Pvt. Ltd.) and the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), which took over the assets and liabilities of the erstwhile UTI12. The government’s intervention included a bailout package to stabilize the situation and ensure the protection of investors’ interests.[36][37][38]
DHFL Pramerica Mutual Fund
Dewan Housing Finance Corporation Limited (DHFL) defaulted on its debt obligations in 2019. This event led to significant governance concerns and defaults by DHFL in meeting various payment obligations, prompting the Reserve Bank of India to supersede the Board of Directors of DHFL1. The default affected several mutual funds, including those managed by BNP Paribas Asset Management India Private Limited, which had to mark down the value of their investments in DHFL’s securities.[39][40][32][35]
The crisis deepened with rating downgrades and write-offs by mutual funds, which had a cumulative exposure of ₹5,336 crore to securities issued by DHFL3. As a result, there was a severe liquidity issue and a drop in the Net Asset Values (NAVs) of the mutual funds, impacting investors’ returns. DHFL Pramerica Mutual Fund, which was a joint venture between DHFL and Pramerica Financial, Inc., also faced challenges due to the exposure to DHFL’s debt instruments.[39][40][32][35]
