GOING ACTIVE ON PASSIVE FUNDS

Delhi-based Sameer Mediratta swears by passive investing. He has been investing in index mutual funds for the past seven years.

- PRIYA KAPOOR

“By putting my money in index funds, I am assured that I will get returns matched to the benchmark index if not less or more than that as in the case of active funds. Also, indexes over the long-run have grown tremendously and have been able to beat inflation. Passive investing works for me as it takes away the time and effort of choosing the funds,” says Mediratta.

Like Mediratta, a growing number of investors have started taking the route of passive funds in the last few years. The numbers substantiate this. As on July 31, 2022, the size of the Indian mutual fund industry was 37.75 trillion. Of this about 15 % of assets were in just passively managed products alone, according to data by Association of Mutual funds (AMFI). This is a whopping increase of around four-fold in the last five years. As a percentage of overall folios, passive folios have almost tripled over the last two financial years. According to a report by Finity, a fintech specialising in passive and direct mutual fund schemes, the outlook of passive assets is strong. The passive assets will grow to constitute 37% of the overall assets in the mutual fund industry by 2025.