Sucheta Dalal :CRISIL says investor interest revived in debt mutual funds
Sucheta Dalal

Click here for FREE MEMBERSHIP to Moneylife Foundation which entitles you to:
• Access to information on investment issues

• Invitations to attend free workshops on financial literacy
• Grievance redressal

 

MoneyLife
You are here: Home » What's New » CRISIL says investor interest revived in debt mutual funds
                       Previous           Next

CRISIL says investor interest revived in debt mutual funds  

November 11, 2009

 

Ratings agency CRISIL said improvement in liquidity conditions in the Indian financial market along with revival in investor confidence has helped the Indian mutual fund industry tide over the aftermath of the liquidity crisis faced by the financial market during the third quarter of 2008-09.
“CRISIL has also witnessed an increased preference by mutual funds for lower credit risk with a preference towards government securities and AAA or P1+ rated instruments,” said Pawan Agrawal, director, CRISIL Ratings.
 
The strong recovery by the industry is reflected in the growth in assets under management (AUM) of debt schemes which have more than doubled over the past year to Rs5.68 trillion as on 31 October 2009. CRISIL said it has also observed a shift in investor preference towards relatively shorter-term schemes, increased investment in higher-rated credits and high demand for debt instruments issued by banks.
 
While improvement in liquidity contributed to increased demand for debt schemes, introduction of new guidelines issued by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), capping the maturity of investments in liquid schemes, resulted in increased preference for ultra short-term funds. The share of liquid schemes has come down to 27% from 49% of AUM, the ratings agency said.
 
CRISIL, a unit of Standard & Poor's, said financial sector entities, especially banks, continue to dominate the portfolio constituting two-thirds of the AUM. However, within the financial sector, there is a clear shift towards investments in instruments issued by banks as compared to that of non-banking financial companies (NBFCs).
 
While the overall exposure to the financial sector remained stable, mutual funds’ exposure to banks has increased to over 50% from 43.3% as on 31 August 2008. On the other hand, exposure to NBFCs has come down to just above 8% from almost 18% as on August 2008, it said.
 
"Exposure to pass-through-certificates (PTCs) and real estate sector has also come down sharply because of the illiquid nature of the instruments and their increased credit risk” added Mr Agrawal. – Yogesh Sapkale [email protected]

-- Sucheta Dalal