Despite a booming economy and vibrant equity markets, equity assets under management at many mutual fund houses remain abysmally low 

At a time when the Indian economy is being lauded for its relentless growth and Indian companies are in the process of raising thousands of crores in the primary markets, the mutual fund industry is standing out like an eyesore. The sorry state of affairs in the mutual fund industry is evident from the miniscule corpus many of the fund houses are managing.

Here are the unpleasant facts. 18 out of 37 Asset Management Companies (AMCs) have less than Rs1,000 crore as assets under management (AUM) in their equity schemes. From these, 13 funds have less than Rs500 crore of AUMs. On an average, these 18 fund houses have Rs355.99 crore in equity MF schemes. Between them, they are managing a ridiculously low corpus of Rs6,407.80 crore.

Reliance Mutual Fund, the largest fund house, has AUM of Rs35,204 crore. HDFC Mutual Fund manages a corpus of Rs22,657 crore. These amounts might seem princely when compared to the small fund houses, but compared to international fund houses, even these are paltry.

Shinsei Mutual Fund is the smallest among the 18 funds, having a corpus of Rs19.47 crore as on 10 February 2010 while Escorts Mutual Fund and Benchmark Mutual Fund have Rs28.32 crore and Rs48.88 crore respectively in their kitty.

Quantum Mutual Fund and Baroda Pioneer Mutual Fund have AUM of Rs48.96 crore and Rs66.14 crore respectively.

Some of the bigger names in the industry like Bharti AXA Mutual Fund (Rs308.37 crore), AIG Mutual Fund (Rs612 crore) and Axis Mutual Fund (Rs874.11 crore) also appear in the list of funds having less than Rs1,000 crore.

Indian companies are capitalising on the recent bull-run by raising thousands of crores through IPOs and FPOs. In 2010, 17 companies have come out with public offers, (as on 8 March 2010). Despite the rush for raising funds and the flourishing equity markets, the investing public seems disinterested in vying for a share of the pie. The action in the equity markets has failed to catch on to the mutual fund industry.

Indeed, the lull being witnessed by most equity fund houses is a study in contrast to the growth of the economy. Despite equities being touted as the best asset class for the long term, investors continue to shy away from equities. Even the government’s efforts towards encouraging participation in equity mutual funds have failed to do the trick.