India’s mutual fund market will touch $385 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).