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History of the Indian Mutual Fund Industry
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. The history of mutual funds in India can be
broadly divided into four distinct phases
First Phase – 1964-87
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.
Second Phase – 1987-1993 (Entry of Public Sector Funds)
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.
At the end of 1993, the mutual fund industry had assets under
management of Rs.47,004 crores.
Third Phase – 1993-2003 (Entry of Private Sector Funds)
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.
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.
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.
Fourth Phase – since February 2003
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.
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.
The graph indicates the growth of assets over the years.
GROWTH IN ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT
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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