Wealthy investors continued to repose faith in portfolio managers or advisory services as the assets under management of such entities rose to about Rs 12 lakh crore in the Indian capital market at January-end.
It also marks the 13th consecutive monthly rise in asset base of portfolio managers. According to the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), total assets under management (AUM) of portfolio managers were at Rs 11,97,455 crore at the end of January, as against Rs 11,75,467 crore in the preceding month.
The asset base has been on the rise since January 2016 when it was Rs 10.23 lakh crore. It had stood at Rs 10.4 lakh crore in December.
Portfolio managers handled assets worth Rs 9,33,346 crore for discretionary services, besides Rs 1,92,140 crore for advisory services and another Rs 71,968 crore for non-discretionary investments during the period under review. Of the total assets managed by such managers, about Rs 8.3 lakh crore was contributed by employee provident fund organisation (EPFO) or provident fund (PF), Sebi data showed.
A portfolio manager is a corporate body which pursuant to a contract or arrangement with a client, advises or directs or undertakes on behalf of the client (whether as a discretionary portfolio manager or otherwise) management of a portfolio of securities or the funds of the client.
Meanwhile, venture capital investments in India witnessed a significant decline in 2016, with just $216 million in funding, compared to $1.6 billion in the previous year, says a KPMG International report.
The decrease was largely due to the lack of mega-deals as actual deal volumes in the country remained steady over the same period.
"Despite the decline, India appears to be a key focus of VC investors in Asia. The demonetisation efforts in the fourth quarter of 2016 resulted in an increase in transactions for both payments companies and mobile wallet providers," the report said.
It further noted that corporate interest in fintech is also expected to rise in India over the next year.
"With the demonetisation effort that started in the fourth quarter of 2016 in India, there has been a big increase in the number of transactions managed by both payments companies and wallet providers. As this effort continues, we should see momentum grow for digital platforms and fintech solutions," Neha Punater, Head of Fintech, KPMG in India said.
According to KPMG International's quarterly report on global fintech investment, the total 2016 fintech funding declined to $24.7 billion from $46.7 billion in 2015, while deal activity dropped from 1,255 to 1,076. PTI