MUMBAI:If India’s mutual fund industry were a blockbuster, it would now be at its intermission Rs 100 lakh crore down, and another Rs 100 lakh crore to go. That was the spirit animating the fourth edition of the Moneycontrol Mutual Fund Summit in Mumbai, where the country’s top fund managers, regulators, and market veterans converged to chart a responsible roadmap to the next trillion-dollar milestone.
The big number Rs 100 lakh crore in AUM (Assets Under Management) is no longer a pipe dream. But as SEBI Whole-Time Member Amarjeet Singh warned in his keynote, with great inflows come great responsibilities. “People are trusting mutual funds with their money, and that trust should not be disturbed,” he said. “Growing the right and responsible way becomes very important.”
That note of caution echoed across the summit, where talk veered from geopolitics to granularity, inflation to inclusion. HDFC AMC MD & CEO Navneet Munot offered a moral compass: “Truth is the foundation, transparency is the path, and True North can be like our compass.” He praised SEBI’s “co-creative” approach to regulation, one that encourages dialogue, not duels.
Liquidity, not just logic, remains the dominant force in markets, observed Axis AMC CIO Ashish Gupta. “No market is insulated from global risk trade or geopolitics. But liquidity continues to be the biggest driver of asset prices.”
With fund launches, especially thematic ones, flooding the market, the panel agreed that innovation must be balanced with investor education. “We’ve created many pieces like Lego. What’s missing is education,” said Edelweiss AMC MD & CEO Radhika Gupta. “We need to tell people kaunsa mutual fund sahi hai which one fits their goals.”
Gupta also hailed SEBI’s nod to Social Impact Funds as “forward-looking”, opening the doors for ethical investing in India’s evolving MF landscape.
Meanwhile SBI Mutual Fund deputy MD & joint CEO D P Singh reminded the audience that education is also about action. “We’re powering platforms like mutualfundskyusahihai.com to take investor awareness to the next level.”
One number got heads nodding: Kotak AMC’s Nilesh Shah pointed out that India has nearly 30 crore vehicle owners but just 5.5 crore mutual fund investors. “The next leg of growth is clearly in Bharat,” he said, emphasising the need to tap into smaller towns and first-time investors.
The summit closed with a call for balance. More innovation, but with integrity. More investors, but through inclusion. And more funds, but built on fundamentals. With Rs 100 lakh crore already clocked, the mutual fund industry isn’t just managing wealth anymore, it’s managing trust.
And in this next chapter of financial deepening, India’s mutual fund fraternity knows the best returns will come not just from markets, but from meaning.
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