Fintech AMCs seize a bridgehead in asset management market

Time of India

12-05-2025

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New generation fintech asset management companies (AMCs) have grown their assets under management (AUM) in the last one year swimming against the tide in a sector dominated by banks and traditional wealth management firms.While the broader slowdown in the mutual fund industry did take out the wind from the sails in the last quarter for the likes of Groww Mutual Fund Zerodha Fund House and Navi Mutual Fund , these fintechs grew between 10 to 50% every quarter.Groww MF doubled its AUM in the last one year closing March 2025 with Rs 1,547 crore in AUM. While it reported a flat growth in the March quarter, between September and December quarters its AUM grew 46%, data showed.Similarly, Zerodha grew its assets base almost nine times between March 2024 and 2025, reaching Rs 4,854 crore. Between September and December quarters, it grew at 46% and over the next quarter it grew only 26%.For Navi MF, AUM grew at 1.7% between December and March from almost 6% between October and December. Navi MF is at Rs 7,120 crore up 44% from just shy of Rs 5,000 crore a year back.According to Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) data, equity inflow into mutual funds in March stood at Rs 25,082 crore, an 11-month low. Between March 2024 and 2026, the overall assets in the mutual fund industry jumped 21.2% to Rs 66 lakh crore from around Rs 55 lakh crore.'Since the time of our launch in Dec 2023, we have seen strong AUM growth hitting Rs.6,500 crore across 7 lakh investors," said Vishal Jain, chief executive officer, Zerodha Fund HouseOther than Zerodha Fund House, which got a fresh licence, both Navi and Groww entered this space by acquiring two existing mutual fund companies. Navi acquired Essel Mutual Fund in February 2021, while Groww closed the acquisition of IndiaBulls AMC in May 2023. Recently Angel One and CapitalMind also bagged licences to start the mutual fund business.An Amfi report from February this year said by 2047 India will have around 200 AMCs with AUM set to cross Rs 350 lakh crore. For fintechs, which were mostly focusing on stock broking and mutual fund distribution, the entry into the AMC business is an attempt to grab a share of this expanding wealth pie.'Investors look for trust and that gets built by large AUMs or strong distribution. Fintechs will need to build that trust which will take time, or they will have to innovate on distribution and products,' said Manish Kothari, cofounder, ZFunds, a mutual fund distribution startup.For players like Groww, Zerodha and Angel One, leaders in the stock broking sector, the AMC licence is the trump card for diversification in the financial services business that can bring in more stability to their overall revenues. And going by the overall slowdown in the equity markets, their stock broking businesses have also seen a certain degree of stagnation in their active user count reported by NSE.Groww reported 12.9 million active users as of March end, compared to 12.5 million in October 2024, reflecting the churn and the slow addition of new investors. Zerodha's 8 million active traders in March end has also remained somewhat stable compared to 7.8million in October 2024.'There has been a slowdown in the overall market, which is reflected in the larger mutual funds industry as well, so for these fintechs, a lot is riding on their newly formed AMC business for stability and future business growth,' said another founder of a mutual fund distribution startup on the condition of anonymity.While the AMC business is a long-term game plan for these startups, industry insiders agree that creating a dent in this market would depend on innovation.For instance, Bajaj Finserv , which got the AMC licence in 2023, has created an AUM of Rs 20,133 crore in March 2025 from Rs 8,800 crore in March 2024.'Groww is trying to build an offline presence of their mutual fund business. They have set up offices in certain cities already and the plan is to set up more,' said the founder quoted above. Despite being a tech-first stock broker for the AMC business, the Peak XV Partners-backed startup is opening up offline distribution channels.Groww did not respond to queries.'There are 44 AMCs and everyone has a Nifty product, a flexicap fund, a large cap fund, so these startups will need to differentiate from the traditional players with very innovative products, retail investors still use AUM size as a major filter to choose from,' Kothari of ZFunds said.Unlike broking, where customers are using the platform only through a transactional relationship, in case of the engagement with the AMC business, it is a long term trust based investment play.