New players throng MF space; strategies to be the key

Watch Out For Exceptional Performances

- NESIL STANEY

THE ₹74.41 LAKH-CRORE mutual fund industry, which has seen its assets rise by three times in just five years, has witnessed entries of a host of new players last year. These include Angel One Mutual, Unifi Capital, Jio BlackRock AMC, Pantomath Capital Advisors and Capitalmind MF.

Also in the queue are Sunil Singhania's Abakkus Asset Management and Arun Poddar's Choice International. Both have received the approval.

Carnelian Asset Management, owned by Khemanis; Alpha Alternatives of Naresh Kothari; Ashika Credit Capital of Pawan Jain and family; Quant-trader Estee Advisors; and Oaklane Capital have also applied for the MF licence.

However, the rising number of players—47 till date and at least 7 more to join soon—has raised questions about the strategies to be followed by players who neither have distribution heft like banks and institution-sponsored fund houses like SBI Mutual Fund, ICICI Mutual Fund, HDFC Mutual Fund, and Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, nor the technological prowess of online platforms like Jio BlackRock, Zerodha, Groww and Angel One.