Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund is the most popular direct plan equity MF

Published: January 15, 2023 at 6:00 am

The AUM (asset under management) of mutual funds reported in most online portals is the  AUM of the regular plan (commissions removed before NAV declaration) plus the AUM of the direct plan (no commissions). This article lists the most popular direct plan mutual funds. That is the ones with the largest AUM.

Each quarter, the association of mutual funds in India (AMF) reports the average AUM per quarter. Domestic fund of funds AUM is reported separately to avoid double-counting assets. This reports the AUM of the direct and regular plan mutual funds separately. Also, under each plan, one can find the AUM in the dividend (IDCW) and growth options. NB: Plans and options have distinct meanings for mutual funds and should not be used interchangeably!

Let us now slice the AUM step by step. The data corresponds to Average Assets under Management (AAUM) for the quarter of October – December 2020 (Rs in Lakhs).

  • Grand Total: Rs. 402675769.4  Lakhs (excluding domestic FoFs)
  • ETF: Rs. 50563326.15 Lakhs (excluding domestic FOFs; these have no direct plan, regular plan, growth, or dividend options!). Aum share of ETFs: 12.55%
  • Almost 3.77% of the total AUM is held in SBI-ETF Nifty 50.
  • Regular Plan: Rs. 210472726.6 Lakhs. Aum share of regular plan MFs: 59.77%
  • Direct Plan: Rs. 141639716.6 Lakhs. Aum share of direct plan MFs: 40.22%

We expect much of the direct plan AUM to be in liquid funds, money market funds and other debt funds. Let us inspect the top 50 direct plan funds.

The top 9 are short-term debt funds (The AUM is in Lakhs


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  1. SBI Liquid Fund – DIRECT PLAN -Growth 5016853.57
  2. HDFC Liquid Fund – Growth Option – Direct Plan 3987565.69
  3. ICICI Prudential Liquid Fund – Direct Plan-Growth 3145353.96
  4. Aditya Birla Sun Life Liquid Fund – Growth – Direct Plan 2997539.37
  5. Kotak Liquid – Growth – Direct 2651579.83
  6. UTI-Liquid Cash Plan – Direct Plan – Growth Option 2379785.48
  7. Nippon India Liquid Fund – Direct Plan Growth Plan – Growth Option 2175927.47
  8. Axis Liquid Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option 2072693.19
  9. SBI OVERNIGHT FUND – DIRECT PLAN – GROWTH 1903734.61

At no 10 is Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund – Direct Plan-Growth with Rs. 1727404.88 Lakhs AUM. Making it the most popular direct plan equity mutual fund (we shall not consider arbitrage funds as equity funds for this classification). We have not consolidated growth and dividend (IDCW) options. Even if we did, the IDCW contributions from equity direct plan funds are too small to displace Parag Parikh Flexicap (which does not have an IDCW option).

There are nine equity funds if we consider the next 45 funds.

Scheme NameAverage AUM
Axis Bluechip Fund – Direct Plan – Growth1216543
Mirae Asset Large Cap Fund – Direct Plan – Growth1168819
Kotak Flexicap Fund – Growth – Direct940412.9
SBI BLUE CHIP FUND-DIRECT PLAN -GROWTH906744
HDFC Flexi Cap Fund – Growth Option – Direct Plan864729.7
ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund – Direct Plan – Growth841726.7
Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip Fund – Direct Plan – Growth803763.6
Axis Long Term Equity Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option802786.7
ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund – Direct Plan -Growth705882.3

The next 45 popular direct plan funds are tabulated below.

Scheme NameAverage AUM
ICICI Prudential Savings Fund – Direct Plan – Growth1606308
Tata Liquid Fund- Direct Plan-Growth Option1422676
HDFC Overnight Fund – Growth Option – Direct Plan1366383
HDFC Floating Rate Debt Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option1326602
IDFC Corporate Bond Fund – Direct Growth1280809
Axis Bluechip Fund – Direct Plan – Growth1216543
HDFC Corporate Bond Fund – Growth Option – Direct Plan1206842
ICICI Prudential Overnight Fund – Direct Plan – Growth1196207
ICICI Prudential Corporate Bond Fund – Direct Plan – Growth1190140
Kotak Money Market Scheme – (Growth) – Direct1187089
Aditya Birla Sun Life Floating Rate Fund-Direct Plan-Growth1183819
Mirae Asset Large Cap Fund – Direct Plan – Growth1168819
Aditya Birla Sun Life Money Manager Fund – Growth – Direct Plan1067542
Kotak Equity Arbitrage Fund – Growth – Direct1066880
HSBC Liquid Fund -Growth Direct1036929
IDFC Cash Fund -Direct Plan-Growth1028646
Kotak Savings Fund-Growth – Direct976392.9
HDFC Money Market Fund – Growth Option – Direct Plan971174.7
DSP Liquidity Fund – Direct Plan – Growth956129.5
SBISAVINGS FUND – DIRECT PLAN – GROWTH942538.8
Kotak Flexicap Fund – Growth – Direct940412.9
ADITYA BIRLA SUN LIFE OVERNIGHT FUND-DIRECT PLAN-GROWTH915712.8
SBI BLUE CHIP FUND-DIRECT PLAN -GROWTH906744
Aditya Birla Sun Life Savings Fund – Growth – Direct Plan878217.7
Nippon India Overnight Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option876655.2
ICICI Prudential Money Market Fund Option – Direct Plan -Growth870980.9
Kotak Bond Short Term Plan-(Growth) – Direct866807.1
HDFC Flexi Cap Fund – Growth Option – Direct Plan864729.7
IDFC-IDFC Banking & PSU Debt Fund – Direct Growth850974.5
ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund – Direct Plan – Growth841726.7
Kotak Overnight Fund -Direct Plan-Growth Option834619.3
Axis Overnight Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option826738.6
Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip Fund – Direct Plan – Growth803763.6
Axis Long Term Equity Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option802786.7
SBI SHORT TERM DEBT FUND – DIRECT PLAN -GROWTH792440.1
Axis Banking & PSU Debt Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option792105.3
HDFC Ultra Short Term Fund – Direct Plan-Growth Option789504
Nippon India Money Market Fund – Direct Plan Growth Plan – Growth Option777463.6
SBI MAGNUM ULTRA SHORT DURATION FUND – DIRECT PLAN – GROWTH765626.5
Aditya Birla Sun Life Corporate Bond Fund – Growth – Direct Plan758799.2
UTI – Overnight Fund – Direct Plan – Growth Option742623.9
Nippon India Floating Rate Fund- Direct Plan Growth Plan – Growth Option734383.4
HDFC Short TermDebt Fund – Growth Option – Direct Plan707242.2
Aditya Birla Sun Life Nifty SDL Plus PSU Bond SEP 2026 60:40 Index Fund-Direct Growth707222.5
ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund – Direct Plan -Growth705882.3
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