MF industry assets growth flat in March quarter as market turns volatile

Significant volatility in equity markets and a noticeable drop in major benchmark indices this year have strained the mutual fund sector, leaving most asset managers with modest single‑digit growth in the March quarter.

Among the top twenty fund houses, eleven experienced a quarter‑over‑quarter fall in assets under management (AUM) in March, mirroring the overall market slump.

For example, the industry leader SBI MF saw its assets remain virtually flat at ₹12.48 lakh crore, whereas HDFC MF edged up slightly to ₹9.27 lakh crore (from ₹9.24 lakh crore).

Being the market leader in both active and passive equity funds made the impact more pronounced. Benchmark indices dropped by nearly ten percent during the quarter. In addition, the typical year‑end redemption trend contributed to the industry’s performance,” he said.

Other major fund houses that posted a slight decline in AUM for the March quarter comprised Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, UTI MF, Axis MF, Mirae Asset MF, Bandhan MF, Motilal Oswal MF, Franklin Templeton MF, Canara Robeco MF and Quant MF.

The mutual fund industry’s AUM remained essentially unchanged at ₹81.53 lakh crore in the March quarter, compared with ₹81 lakh crore in the December quarter.

Both the Sensex and Nifty slipped by about fifteen percent each in the March quarter, hitting active and passive schemes alike, as the West Asia conflict weighed on India’s economic growth.

PPFAS MF posted the strongest gain among the top twenty fund houses, rising four percent to ₹1.52 lakh crore in the March quarter from ₹1.45 lakh crore in December, according to AMFI data.

Nippon MF and ICICI MF trailed with three‑percent growth, reaching ₹7.24 lakh crore (up from ₹7 lakh crore) and ₹11.03 lakh crore (up from ₹10.76 lakh crore), respectively.

The decline in AUM would have been far more severe without the consistent inflows from SIPs and equity investments. Unlike earlier periods, investors are now adding more capital during market dips to average their purchase cost.

Inflows into actively managed equity schemes rose nine percent in the March quarter to ₹90,457 crore, up from ₹82,655 crore in December.

Likewise, inflows into passive funds surged forty‑four percent to ₹84,602 crore, compared with ₹58,777 crore in the December quarter.

Akshat Garg, Head of Research & Product at Choice Wealth, noted that despite sharp equity volatility and corrections, the industry continued to enjoy robust retail participation, with positive equity inflows for the sixty‑first straight month and SIP contributions reaching record highs nearly every month. This shows that domestic investors are increasingly behaving counter‑cyclically rather than merely reacting to short‑term market swings,” he said.

Although flows may ease or become volatile depending on market returns, he added that growing SIP penetration and heightened investor awareness will underpin inflows over the long term,” he added.

Published on April 26, 2026