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The mutual fund industry in India started in 1963 with the
formation of Unit Trust of India, at the initiative of the Government of India and
Reserve Bank. The history of mutual funds in India can be broadly divided into four
distinct phases
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First Phase – 1964-87
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Unit Trust of India (UTI) was established on 1963 by an Act
of Parliament. It was set up by the Reserve Bank of India and functioned under the
Regulatory and administrative control of the Reserve Bank of India. In 1978 UTI
was de-linked from the RBI and the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) took
over the regulatory and administrative control in place of RBI. The first scheme
launched by UTI was Unit Scheme 1964. At the end of 1988 UTI had Rs.6,700 crores
of assets under management.
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Second Phase – 1987-1993 (Entry of Public Sector Funds)
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1987 marked the entry of non- UTI, public sector mutual funds
set up by public sector banks and Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and
General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC). SBI Mutual Fund was the first non-
UTI Mutual Fund established in June 1987 followed by Canbank Mutual Fund (Dec 87),
Punjab National Bank Mutual Fund (Aug 89), Indian Bank Mutual Fund (Nov 89), Bank
of India (Jun 90), Bank of Baroda Mutual Fund (Oct 92). LIC established its mutual
fund in June 1989 while GIC had set up its mutual fund in December 1990.
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At the end of 1993, the mutual fund industry had assets under
management of Rs.47,004 crores.
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Third Phase – 1993-2003 (Entry of Private Sector Funds)
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With the entry of private sector funds in 1993, a new era started
in the Indian mutual fund industry, giving the Indian investors a wider choice of
fund families. Also, 1993 was the year in which the first Mutual Fund Regulations
came into being, under which all mutual funds, except UTI were to be registered
and governed. The erstwhile Kothari Pioneer (now merged with Franklin Templeton)
was the first private sector mutual fund registered in July 1993.
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The 1993 SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations were substituted by
a more comprehensive and revised Mutual Fund Regulations in 1996. The industry now
functions under the SEBI (Mutual Fund) Regulations 1996.
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The number of mutual fund houses went on increasing, with many
foreign mutual funds setting up funds in India and also the industry has witnessed
several mergers and acquisitions. As at the end of January 2003, there were 33 mutual
funds with total assets of Rs. 1,21,805 crores. The Unit Trust of India with Rs.44,541
crores of assets under management was way ahead of other mutual funds.
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Fourth Phase – since February 2003
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In February 2003, following the repeal of the Unit Trust of
India Act 1963 UTI was bifurcated into two separate entities. One is the Specified
Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India with assets under management of Rs.29,835
crores as at the end of January 2003, representing broadly, the assets of US 64
scheme, assured return and certain other schemes. The Specified Undertaking of Unit
Trust of India, functioning under an administrator and under the rules framed by
Government of India and does not come under the purview of the Mutual Fund Regulations.
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The second is the UTI Mutual Fund Ltd, sponsored by SBI, PNB,
BOB and LIC. It is registered with SEBI and functions under the Mutual Fund Regulations.
With the bifurcation of the erstwhile UTI which had in March 2000 more than Rs.76,000
crores of assets under management and with the setting up of a UTI Mutual Fund,
conforming to the SEBI Mutual Fund Regulations, and with recent mergers taking place
among different private sector funds, the mutual fund industry has entered its current
phase of consolidation and growth. As at the end of September, 2004, there were
29 funds, which manage assets of Rs.153108 crores under 421 schemes.
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The graph indicates the growth of assets over the years.
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GROWTH IN ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT
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Note:
Erstwhile UTI was bifurcated into UTI Mutual Fund and the Specified
Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India effective from February 2003. The Assets
under management of the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India has therefore
been excluded from the total assets of the industry as a whole from February 2003
onwards.
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