Our Bureau

Mumbai, May 5 The mutual fund industry has recorded an 11.5 per cent growth in asset base in April, most of it due to large inflows from banks into short-term liquid schemes.

This is the highest percentage growth recorded by the industry since the big market fall of January 2008.

The asset base rose by Rs 58,013 crore in April. March had seen a marginal decline in the assets under management of the industry.

The increase in the asset base has come on the back of large inflows from banks and corporate houses during April, said Mr Mahendra Jajoo, Head of Fixed Income & Structured Products, Tata Mutual Fund.

Ultra short-term and short-term bond funds saw high inflows, he said. A steep rise in the equity markets has also contributed to the rise in the asset base in April, he added.

The money which went out in March – most of it for booking profits and advance tax payment – appears to have come back into the system, said Mr Sanjay Sinha, Chief Executive Officer, DBS Cholamandalam AMC.

The benchmark index Sensex rose by over 18 per cent during April.

Of the 38 fund houses, 31 registered an increase in asset base, while four of them recorded drops in their asset base.

India's largest mutual fund house, Reliance Mutual Fund, recorded an increase of 9.17 per cent in its AUM. The second largest, HDFC, saw its asset base rise by 10.22 per cent.

Among the other gainers were ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund (by 8.97 per cent), UTI Mutual Fund (by 11.76 per cent) and Birla Sun Life (by 10.04 per cent).

A lot of money was expected to come back into the system after the maturity of fixed maturity plan schemes during the past month, said a fund manager.

The domestic institutions, including mutual funds themselves, which were sitting on cash, also seem to have deployed their excess money, said Mr Sinha.

The average assets under management of the mutual fund industry as on April end stand at Rs 5,51,299 crore compared with Rs 4,93,286 in March end.