'India's mutual fund market to touch $385 bn by 2020'India's mutual fund market will touch $365 billion by 2020 thanks to
recent regulatory changes and a gradual change in household saving
pattern, a top official in Reliance Capital has said.
"There is a
positive market sentiment, some big-ticket reforms are happening, and
there has been a major boost in foreign investment in
September/October," said Sundeep Sikka, chief executive of Reliance
Capital Asset Management.
"All these indicate that the capital
size of the Indian mutual fund industry will reach Rs.20 lakh crore
($385 billion). We are not only bullish on that, but also ensure we
remain the key player," Sikka told IANS here.
According to him,
the next boom in the mutual fund industry will take place in tier-II and
tier-III cities, and Reliance Capital Asset Management will aim to
increase the retail customer base to 10 million in next five years.
"We
are going to expand our network, both online and offline, in small
cities by adding 5,000 new distributors. This will help us cover 400
cities in next five years. It will make us have the largest retail
footprint across the country," Sikka said.
A part of the Reliance
Group led by Anil Ambani, the company, the largest asset management
firm in India and among the more profitable ones, currently has its
retail penetration in over 200 cities.
"Next on the anvil is to
ramp up our investor education initiative so that we can prepare the
tier-II and tier-III cities for the upcoming mutual fund boom," added
Sikka, who joined the company as CEO in 2009.
Reliance Mutual
Fund had over 7 million investors with a total asset base of Rs.86,327
crore (around $15.6 billion). It offers 23 equity schemes, 21 debt
schemes, two exchange traded funds, and one fund-of-fund scheme (in
gold).
The company has international presence in Singapore,
Mauritius, Dubai, Malaysia and the UK, with an offshore institutional
investment worth Rs.4,200 crore (over $800 million).
'India's mutual fund market to touch $385 bn by 2020'
