The assets under management (AUM) of the mutual fund (MF) industry continues to take a major hit in November as corporates withdraw heavily from fixed maturity plans (FMPs) and liquid funds. Except Tata MF and UTI MF, the AUM of all other fund houses dipped drastically during the month.

According to Amfi, Reliance MF has maintained its top position in the pecking order. But, its AUM dipped by 4.61% or Rs 3,277 crore and stands at Rs 67,815.86 crore. Likewise, HDFC MF ranked second. It?s AUM stood at Rs 44,262 crore, down 2.68% or Rs 1,217 crore.

UTI MF was one of the two fund houses, which saw a rise in AUM. The fund house jumped to the third position, pushing ICICI Prudential MF to the fourth place.

UTI MF?s AUM stood at Rs 38,358 crore, gaining 0.19% or Rs 74.51 crore.

Commenting on UTI MF?s positive performance in such a difficult phase, UK Sinha, CMD, UTI MF said, ?Several fund houses used legal and illegal means to increase their AUMs, which took a hit in such testing times. The corporates have used tax arbitrage and invested in FMP and liquid funds of the fund houses. They started withdrawing funds from these houses as money was needed to meet their requirements in a tight liquidity conditions in the financial market.?

On the contrary, the AUM of ICICI Prudential MF stands at Rs 37,055 crore, down by 5.43% or Rs 2,126 crore.

Apart from UTI MF, Tata MF also gained by 3.16% or Rs 537 crore and stood at Rs 16,999.87 crore. Commenting on Tata MF?s performance, Ved Prakash Chaturvedi, MD, Tata MF said that the fund house works on a process driven approach to manage funds across various parameters including credit quality, volatility, long-term returns and compliance. ?Investors have expressed their confidence in the fund house due to the processes we follow,? he said.

The continuance of the equity market meltdown in November is another reason for the AUMs of the fund houses to drag. The MF industry has shed an AUM of 6.91% or Rs 29,830 crore and stands at Rs 4,02,029.60 crore during the month under review.

It may be mentioned here that Mirae Asset MF has shed the maximum as its AUM dipped by 69% or Rs 695 crore at Rs 309 crore.