Reliance Mutual Fund has regained its position as the country’s biggest fund house, overtaking ICICI Prudential by a huge margin in terms of assets under management (AUM). The total AUM of Reliance MF, an Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group (ADAG) company, rose to Rs 47,665 crore at the end of March, making it the country’s first fund house with total assets of over $10 billion.

According to figures released by the Association of Mutual Funds of India, the AUM of ICICI Prudential, which had replaced Reliance MF as the country’s biggest fund house in February, totalled Rs 43,749 crore at the end of last month. UTI MF remained in the third slot with an AUM of Rs 37,717 crore.

Reliance MF attributed the surge in AUM to the focus on retail investors and its countrywide reach. “We focus on retail investors through our 150 branches... we have an investor base of 3.5 million. Our collections through the systematic investment plan (SIP) average around Rs 200 crore. Besides, we have seen a huge growth in our fixed maturity plan (FMP) segment,” said Reliance MF president Vikrant Gugnani.

“We collected around Rs 6,000 crore through FMPs in March alone. The liquidity problems and the interest rate movements did not impact our performance in March. We don’t have much assets under liquid funds,” Gugnani adding, pointing out that the firm leveraged on the opportunities created by the increased yield on bonds due to liquidity squeeze in the economy. Reliance MF has around Rs 18,000 crore as FMP assets.

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