With the overall sentiments improving, April seems to have been a good month for the domestic mutual fund (MF) industry. The average Asset under Management (AUM) of the MF industry during the month ended April grew by 11.76% or over Rs 58,000 crore to Rs 5.51 lakh crore from Rs 4.93 lakh crore recorded during the March 2009 as per the data published by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) of the total 35 fund houses.

During the month, 31 fund houses saw a positive growth in their AUMs while only four saw a negative growth in their AUMs. This is in sharp contrast to 21 fund houses that recorded a fall in their AUM during the month of March 2009. During March, the average AUM of the MF industry had declined by 1.53%.

Baroda Pioneer mutual fund was the highest gainer for the third consecutive month with a growth of 66.25% to Rs 1,882 crore while Taurus mutual fund was the second highest gainer registering an increase of 65.49% in its AUM from Rs 208.36 crore to Rs 344.81 crore. Similarly AUM of DBS Chola saw a robust growth of 57.44% during the month of April compared to previous month.

According to industry experts the sharp rise in the AUM for the month of April was due to increased flow of funds towards liquid and fixed income products rather than on equity schemes.

?A major contribution came from our liquid funds, which we believe along with other fixed income products we expect to launch will continue to provide an impetus to the growth in our overall AUM?, said, Rajan Krishnan, CEO, Baroda Pioneer AMC.

?During the market meltdown in 2008, there was a general tendency of funds getting polarized towards big AMC?s. But with sentiments and comfortness of investors improving significantly, smaller players have started attracting investors. In the coming months, it will be the small and mid sized fund houses that will be registering a strong growth in its AUM rather than the large sized AMC?, said, Waqar Naqvi, CEO, Taurus AMC.

Reliance mutual fund remained the top fund house with its total AUM for the month ended April 2009, standing at Rs 88,387.98 crore, registering a growth of 9.17% while HDFC mutual fund occupied the second slot with an AUM of Rs 63,880.63 crore showing a growth of 10.22%. ICICI Prudential maintained its third position with an AUM of Rs 56,049.27 crore, recording a growth of 8.98% while UTI mutual fund remained at the fourth position with its total AUM showing an increase of 11.76% at Rs 54,489.98 crore.