The amount mobilised by the mutual fund industry, other than UTI, in the fiscal 1997-98 stands at Rs 1,186 crore compared with Rs 1,062 crore in the previous year. The number of mutual funds at the end of March, 1998, marginally rose to 34, up from 32 in the previous year.

Though the performance of the mutual funds was better this year, it was not encouraging in terms of the total funds mobilised by them mainly due to the depressed secondary market conditions.

UTI mobilised a major portion of the collections at Rs 2,119 crore in 1997-98 against a reverse flow of Rs 3,043 crore in 1996-97, which can be attributed to the bunching up of redemptions of severalclose-ended schemes.

Aggregate funds mobilised by mutual funds (including UTI) in respect of all schemes (growth, income and growth-cum-income oriented) were at Rs 3,305 crore compared with Rs 1,981 crore in the previous year. However, bulk of the resources mobilised were from income-oriented schemes.

The domestic mutual fund industry, dominated by UTI, has seen an influx of foreign mutual funds. These funds are bringing with them international skills in distribution and marketing of mutual-fund products. In the US, there are more mutual funds listed at the bourses than companies.

The next year should see a fair amount of consolidation of activity by private sector mutual funds and as these begin to get entrenched in the Indian markets there could be major developments in the mutual fund industry, experts point out.

On the other hand, UTI, too, is bracing up to meet the challenges and has decided to spread its wings to the rural areas as well. It has set itself a target of Rs 17,000 crore for 1998-99against Rs 13,000 crore in 1997-98.