Mutual Fund Assets Surge to Rs. 3.82 Trillion as Investor Interest Soars

Asset Management Companies (AMCs) through their mutual funds continue to attract investment from individuals and institutions, with asset values surging to Rs. 3.818 trillion by the end of March. Despite a drastic reduction in profit rates on different mutual funds in tandem with policy rates, the asset management companies continue to add new investors amid low-risk returns, aggressive marketing, and the availability of digital channels. The statistics released by the Mutual Funds Association of Pakistan (MUFAP) stated that a total of 21 AMCs maintained assets of Rs. 1.77 trillion in money markets. It is followed by assets of income funds with a value of Rs. 917 billion and equity market with Rs. 392 billion by the end of March 2025. These AMCs invested 45 percent of their deposits in government securities, 29 percent in banks and DFIs, 1  percent in others, and 11 percent in the equity market. Individuals, groups of persons, and institutions preferred to invest their savings in open-end mutual funds, totaling Rs. 3.7 trillion. The share of conventional open-ended mutual funds stood at Rs. 2 trillion and Islamic mutual funds at Rs. 1.67 trillion. Voluntary Pension Schemes attracted investment of Rs. 97 billion. Employer Pension Funds and Exchange Traded Funds received funds of Rs. 2.2 billion and Rs. 1.2 billion respectively, according to MUFAP. AMCs previously marked a record touching its assets worth Rs. 2 trillion in January 2024 and registered another record of achieving a milestone of Rs. 3 trillion in September 2024. Over the past few months, the average profit rates of different mutual funds decreased to 10 percent from 20 percent, however, AMCs continued to retain and add investors over the period.