MF AUM GROWTH – THE MACRO PICTURE
A cursory glance at the data will tell you that mutual funds have grown at a frenetic pace in terms of AUM growth. To be fair, there is a good deal of market value accretion in equities, which leads to AUM growth. However, that is substantial in equity funds, selective in hybrid and passive funds and very limited in the case of debt funds. To get a clear picture, we look at the growth over 3 years and calculate CAGR returns. There is an element of flows and capital accretion in this AUM growth, but the real picture surely emerges.
What matters is that the flows are meaningful and the growth has been impressive on a CAGR basis. First, let us look at the macro picture. Between October 2022 and October 2025, the overall AUM of all open-ended mutual funds in India grew from ₹39.25 Trillion to ₹79.62 Trillion. AUM has more than doubled in the 3-year period, translating into CAGR growth in AUM of 26.59%. That is impressive, but what is more impressive is that this growth has been largely uniform across fund classes.
DEBT FUND AUM GROWTH – 3 YEAR CAGR
The table captures how debt fund AUM grew over 3 years in CAGR terms.
| Active Debt Oriented Funds | AUM-Oct25 | AUM-Oct22 | 3-Y CAGR |
| Long Duration Fund | 19,194.20 | 2,904.70 | 87.65% |
| Gilt Fund with 10Y duration | 4,986.56 | 1,521.99 | 48.52% |
| Money Market Fund | 3,44,278.89 | 1,05,882.56 | 48.15% |
| Gilt Fund | 39,325.02 | 15,899.36 | 35.24% |
| Corporate Bond Fund | 2,11,442.33 | 1,11,714.86 | 23.70% |
| Dynamic Bond Fund | 37,333.96 | 22,144.97 | 19.02% |
| Low Duration Fund | 1,50,904.84 | 93,462.25 | 17.32% |
| Ultra Short Duration Fund | 1,39,715.15 | 88,736.88 | 16.34% |
| Liquid Fund | 5,59,686.58 | 3,73,212.25 | 14.46% |
| Short Duration Fund | 1,39,124.76 | 95,272.33 | 13.45% |
| Medium to Long Duration Fund | 11,825.92 | 8,877.93 | 10.03% |
| Banking and PSU Fund | 80,699.63 | 76,457.01 | 1.82% |
| Medium Duration Fund | 26,254.41 | 27,959.87 | -2.08% |
| Overnight Fund | 1,15,714.42 | 1,34,583.00 | -4.91% |
| Floater Fund | 50,931.10 | 60,637.73 | -5.65% |
| Credit Risk Fund | 20,018.43 | 25,534.67 | -7.79% |
| Category Total | 19,51,436.18 | 12,44,802.35 | 16.17% |
| Data Source: AMFI (figures are ₹ in Crore) | |||
Debt fund flows are driven by treasuries and see heavy outflows each quarter, but 3-year picture is still quite robust at 16.17% CAGR. The big AUM growth stories in the last 3 years have been Long Duration Funds, Gilt funds with 10-year duration, money market funds, Gilt Funds, and corporate bond funds. However, barring corporate bond funds and money market funds, the growth is on a very small base.
Four categories of debt funds have shown negative CAGR AUM growth in last 3 years. Depletion in AUM in credit risk funds, floater funds and overnight funds is the highest. There are 2 reasons why this 16.17% CAGR growth for debt funds is laudable. Firstly, debt funds do not have the benefit of price appreciation to the extent equity-oriented funds have. Secondly, this is despite the quarterly treasury outflows.
EQUITY FUND AUM GROWTH – 3 YEAR CAGR
The table below captures how active equity fund AUM grew over 3 years in CAGR terms.
| Active Equity Oriented Schemes | AUM-Oct25 | AUM-Oct22 | 3-Y CAGR |
| Multi Cap Fund | 2,20,254.63 | 65,285.79 | 49.98% |
| Dividend Yield Fund | 33,210.96 | 10,294.35 | 47.76% |
| Sectoral/Thematic Funds | 5,33,830.68 | 1,67,805.24 | 47.07% |
| Small Cap Fund | 3,72,362.31 | 1,26,095.84 | 43.47% |
| Large & Mid Cap Fund | 3,22,158.21 | 1,26,797.18 | 36.45% |
| Mid Cap Fund | 4,54,606.49 | 1,82,767.48 | 35.49% |
| Value Fund/Contra Fund | 2,13,021.35 | 88,992.37 | 33.77% |
| Flexi Cap Fund | 5,33,756.17 | 2,48,853.10 | 28.96% |
| Large Cap Fund | 4,10,156.51 | 2,44,691.07 | 18.79% |
| ELSS | 2,53,264.09 | 1,55,114.69 | 17.75% |
| Focused Fund | 1,70,127.72 | 1,05,641.12 | 17.21% |
| Category Total | 35,16,749.11 | 15,22,338.25 | 32.19% |
| Data Source: AMFI (figures are ₹ in Crore) | |||
Equity fund AUM has the benefit of flows and capital accretion. The growth has been impressive at 32.19% CAGR, despite a very high base. If we leave out dividend yield funds with a low base, the other leaders in terms of 3-year CAGR growth in AUM belong to two narratives. There are auto-allocation stories like multi-cap and large & mid-cap funds on one hand. Then, there are the high-risk alpha stories like Sectoral funds, thematic funds, small cap funds and mid-cap funds. This continues to be the key driver of equity fund AUM.
HYBRID FUND AUM GROWTH – 3 YEAR CAGR
The table captures how hybrid allocation fund AUM grew over 3 years in CAGR terms.
| Hybrid Allocation Funds | AUM-Oct25 | AUM-Oct22 | 3-Y CAGR |
| Multi Asset Allocation Fund | 1,51,071.71 | 21,698.83 | 90.95% |
| Arbitrage Fund | 2,71,401.97 | 75,883.88 | 52.93% |
| Equity Savings Fund | 49,251.12 | 17,129.57 | 42.20% |
| Retirement Fund | 32,512.30 | 17,821.19 | 22.19% |
| Children’s Fund | 25,213.27 | 14,115.98 | 21.33% |
| Dynamic Asset Allocation / BAF | 3,18,121.66 | 1,94,577.93 | 17.81% |
| Balanced Hybrid Fund | 2,50,052.41 | 1,58,811.99 | 16.34% |
| Conservative Hybrid Fund | 29,877.70 | 22,585.58 | 9.78% |
| Category Total | 11,27,502.14 | 5,22,624.96 | 29.21% |
| Data Source: AMFI (figures are ₹ in Crore) | |||
Hybrid fund AUM gets partial benefits of capital accretion, but CAGR growth at 29.21% has been impressive across the board. Since the base for most funds is small, we will not get into the base aspect here as hybrid funds growth is a recent phenomenon. The theme that seems to be emerging is of allocation across asset classes as evident from leaders like MAAF, Equity Savings Fund, and BAFs. Arbitrage funds are classified as hybrid funds, but are more akin to treasury funds. What is more interesting is the smart growth solution funds have exhibited, albeit on a small base.
PASSIVE FUND AUM GROWTH – 3 YEAR CAGR
The table captures how passive allocation fund AUM grew over 3 years in CAGR terms.
| Passive Funds | AUM-Oct25 | AUM-Oct22 | 3-Y CAGR |
| GOLD ETF | 1,02,119.86 | 19,881.72 | 72.54% |
| Index Funds | 3,20,075.92 | 1,12,603.20 | 41.66% |
| Other ETFs | 9,08,398.92 | 4,82,654.62 | 23.47% |
| FOFs investing overseas | 36,090.86 | 19,834.61 | 22.08% |
| Category Total | 13,66,685.57 | 6,34,974.16 | 29.11% |
| Data Source: AMFI (figures are ₹ in Crore) | |||
Like Hybrid fund AUM even passive AUM gets partial benefits of capital accretion, with CAGR of 29.11% almost at par with hybrid funds. In fact, hybrids and passives (jointly classified as alternates) have been the big post-pandemic story. In this case, the demand is cyclical and driven by supply. For instance, gold ETFs have shown the best CAGR growth over the last 3 years, due to the huge rally in gold in the last 15 months. There may be short-term concerns over the growth in passive funds vis-à-vis active funds, but a longer-term view shows that alternates have surely come of age in India.