Asset Managers Optimistic Despite Stock Market Declines The global financial crisis may be ravaging India’s stock market, but it hasn’t dampened the enthusiasm of fund managers to enter the Indian market, according to the India 20, Institutional Investor’s exclusive annual survey of the country’s leading asset managers.
Two new asset management ventures have launched mutual funds since the fiscal year started in April, two others have won regulatory approval to enter the market and fully 21 more have applications pending with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. This activity represents a vote of confidence in the long-term potential of the Indian fund market notwithstanding the recent rout on the Bombay Stock Exchange, which had knocked the benchmark Sensex 30 index down 58.1 percent for the year, as of late October.
Reliance Capital Asset Management Co., a unit of the Reliance–Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, rises one place to top the India 20 ranking for the first time, with $20.9 billion in assets as of March 31, up 150 percent from the end of 2006. A combination of strong performance, new products and improved distribution helped Reliance pull away from the pack and displace UTI Asset Management Co., which launched India’s mutual fund industry in the 1960s and falls to No. 4, with $11.1 billion under management.
Reliance’s assets are 67 percent greater than the $12.5 billion of second-place ICICI Prudential Asset Management Co., a joint venture of India’s ICICI Bank and U.K. insurer Prudential that ranked fourth a year earlier. HDFC Asset Management Co. remains in third, followed by UTI and Birla Sun Life Asset Management Co.
Combined assets of the India 20 surged 59.4 percent, to $116.5 billion, at the end of March, from $73.1 billion at the end of 2006, the cut-off date for the previous ranking.
How the Ranking Was Compiled Institutional Investor’s third annual ranking identifies India’s top 20 fund managers by assets. New York–based Associate Editor WeiQing Lu and Mumbai-based Contributing Editor Niraj Bhatt compiled the ranking from questionnaires filled out by the institutions themselves. II refined this data through follow-up faxes, e-mails and telephone calls. When official data were unavailable, II obtained figures from Web sites and other public sources. All figures are in millions of dollars as of March 31, 2008, converted from rupees using the exchange rate on that date. The previous year’s ranking was based on assets as of December 31, 2006.