Growth and performance of Indian mutual funds industry

The Indian mutual fund industry has come a long way since its inception in 1963. The industry witnessed sufficient growth on all parameters - the number of fund houses, the number of schemes, funds mobilized, assets under management, etc. Given the critical role of channeling household savings, the question is - has the Indian mutual industry succeeded in achieving its’ goal? This study addresses this concern. The detailed nature of the current study suggests that the mutual fund industry has recorded significant progress on all fronts yet it has not been able to utilize its potential fully. On almost on all parameters, it is far behind the developed economies and even most of the emerging economies of the world. Moreover, the industry faces a number of challenges like low penetration ratio, lack of product differentiation, lack of investor awareness and ability to communicate value to customers, lack of interest of retail investors towards mutual funds and evolving nature of the industry. Based on the analysis the study suggests some recommendation to address these challenges.