Number of passive funds tracking Nifty indices crosses 200

The National Stock Exchange of India (NSE) on Monday said that the total number of passive funds (ETFs and index funds) tracking Nifty indices has crossed a new milestone of 200.

Currently there are 110 ETFs and 91 index funds tracking 72 unique Nifty indices. Out of these 201 passive funds, 166 are equity passive funds and 35 are debt passive funds.

The total AUM (asset under management) of equity and debt passive funds tracking Nifty indices is Rs 4.35 lakh crore. For these funds, most widely used benchmarks are Nifty 50, Nifty Next 50 and Nifty Bank, according to a release.

Nifty indices linked passive funds account for 76 per cent market share in terms of total number of equity and debt passive funds and 73 per cent market share in terms of total AUM of equity and debt funds in the country.

"We are highly humbled by investors' continued trust and confidence demonstrated through their investments in passive funds linked to the Nifty indices. The acceptance of Nifty indices across the globe is a matter of pride for us. We strongly believe that passive funds are well suited for retail and institutional investors to invest in capital markets. We will continue focusing on investor education in order to increase retail participation in passive products," NSE MD and CEO Ashishkumar Chauhan said.

During the current financial year till October 31, 2022, fresh inflows in passive funds is Rs 0.93 lakh crore as against Rs 1.28 lakh crore in FY22.

The passive fund industry in India has grown at a CAGR of 55 per cent over the last five years with a total AUM of Rs 6.15 lakh crore as on October 31, 2022 (equity Rs 4.56 lakh crore, debt Rs 1.38 lakh crore and commodity Rs 0.21 lakh crore) as against Rs 0.68 lakh crore as on October 31, 2017 (equity Rs 0.61 lakh crore, debt Rs 0.02 lakh crore and commodity Rs 0.05 lakh crore), the release said.

Mukesh Agarwal, CEO, NSE Indices Ltd, said, "Investor interest in passive funds is increasing as reflected by a large number of new folios created in the last couple of years. Inflows into the passive funds have been strong for a few years and trading volumes of ETFs are also rising steadily."

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