Share Market

The mutual fund industry in India started in 1963 with the formation of Unit Trust of India and can be broadly divided into four distinct phases:

First Phase (1964-87): 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): It 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): 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 number of mutual fund houses went on increasing, with many foreign mutual funds setting up funds in India. As at the end of January 2003, there were 33 mutual funds with total assets of Rs. 1,21,805 crores.

Fourth Phase – In February 2003, following the repeal of the Unit Trust of India Act 1963 the erstwhile UTI was bifurcated into two separate entities – The Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India, representing broadly, the assets of US 64 scheme, schemes with assured returns and certain other schemes and UTI Mutual Fund conforming to SEBI Mutual Fund Regulations. As at the end of March 2008, there were 33 mutual funds, which managed assets of Rs. 5,05,152 crores (US $ 126 Billion) under 956 schemes. This fast growing industry is currently regulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI).