A few foreign brands has survived the twist and turns of regulatory and market changes to participate in the current bull run in the mutual fund industry. From being a tier-I player, HSBC MF has widened its reach after acquisition of L&T MF. Kailash Kulkarni, Chief Executive Officer, HSBC Asset Management India spoke to businessline on the industry outlook. Excerpt:
What is your estimate on AUM growth for HSBC MF?
When HSBC acquired L&T MF, we had about ₹80,000-81,000 crore of AUM. Today, we are nearly double that. HSBC MF previously had limited third-party distribution, while L&T brought significant strength in that area. It took about a year for distributors and investors to get accustomed to the HSBC brand, but growth has been good since then. Our philosophy is also different. We are not a large NFO player. We launch an NFO only when we believe the product is unique or fills a genuine gap. Over the last 20 years, MFs have grown through market cycles, regulatory changes and various challenges. Pre-Covid, there were around 2 crore MF investors. Today, that number has crossed 6 crore, with about 6.2-6.3 crore unique investors. MFs have moved from being a push product to a pull product.
