Index Funds AUM grew by 590%, ETFs by 117% since 2020

Passive investing has gained popularity since Covid hit the Indian shores two years ago. Since February 2020, the number of index funds have increased 144% and the assets managed by them grew 590%, says data collated by Morningstar India.

Index funds have been the talk of the town in the last one year. There were 32 index funds in the market in February 2020. The number today stands at 78. The total AUM in index funds stood at Rs 7,930.48 in February, 2020. In February 2022 the figure was Rs 54,737.46.

ETFs other than gold ETFs also saw investor interest in the recent years. There was a sharp increase of 57% in the number of schemes and 117% increase in the AUM of these ETFs. ETFs have been getting traction because of their low cost structures and innovative themes. However, data shows that retail investors still prefer index funds for their simplicity.

Gold ETFs became the buzz word amid the uncertainty created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Even though the number of ETFs remained the same in the last two years, there was an increase of 136% in AUM since Feb, 2020.

Apart from index funds and ETFs, schemes investing in overseas stocks have seen increase in traction. The assets under management of these funds have increased by a total of 710% in the last two years. There is also a jump of 63% in the number of schemes launched in this segment since Feb, 2020. The number of schemes in the segment increased from 27 to 44 in two years.

Here’s a look at the data:
Source: Morningstar