Surging ahead: Mutual fund investor count rose 20% in 2022, shows data

The mutual fund (MF) industry onboarded over 6 million new investors in 2022 - a 20 per cent growth - although 33 per cent lower than the additions made in 2021.

The net folio addition also declined 19 per cent, compared with the previous year, reveals data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India.

The investor count is the total number of permanent account numbers registered with fund houses; folios are the number of active investment accounts for various schemes.

The equity market remained range-bound last year as foreign investors pulled out record sums from the Indian market. While the S&P BSE Sensex gained 5.78 per cent, the National Stock Exchange Nifty moved up 4.33 per cent. In 2021, the gains were 20 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively.

Owing to strong market rally in 2021, the industry added investors and folios at record pace. This year, the industry growth was impacted by heightened volatility and lacklustre returns.

New investor additions were also hit by a lack of new fund offers by top fund houses.

According to MF distributors, fund launches by bigger players help in investor addition as aggressive marketing and sales strategies are deployed at such times.

The assets under management growth came in at 7 per cent in 2022, with the figure rising from an average of Rs 37.9 trillion in December 2021 to Rs 40.8 trillion in December 2022.