More Stories

Informist, Thursday, Apr. 16, 2026

By Priyasmita Dutta and Meera Nair

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI – HDFC Asset Management Co. Ltd. plans to foray into the Specialised Investment Fund space cautiously by taking a "thoughtful and deliberate" approach, its management said in a post-earnings call with analysts Thursday. We do not want to race to be the first to enter that space and would rather seek to leverage it once we see adequate investor appetite for the schemes, Navneet Munot, managing director of the asset management company, said.

HDFC Asset Management Thursday reported a fall in its net profit for the March quarter, the first time in 15 quarters, owing to a sharp fall in other income and a rise in total expenses. The fall in other income, down 91% on the year, was the steepest yet, data available with Informist showed. Its net profit was INR 6.23 billion, down over 2% on year and over 19% on quarter.

A specialised investment fund is an investment vehicle that was introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India in February 2025 to bridge the gap between traditional mutual funds and high-ticket investment products like portfolio management services and alternative investment funds. These instruments are suitable for investors who seek a balance of regulatory safety, tax efficiency, and greater flexibility in managing their wealth.

HDFC Asset Management has received the licence to launch these products but is yet to come out with them. Many of its peers launched these products earlier this year. "For all we know, generally the first few funds may not even do well; we don't want that. We want to take a calibrated approach," the company's senior management said.

As such, the management said it is not fixated on coming out with new fund offers or launching products and would first like to bolster existing ones and increase operations by building on them. "The agenda is to optimise market share across all products in the near term," the management said. Thursday, the company's shares closed nearly flat at INR 2,662.20 on the National Stock Exchange.

HDFC Asset Management recorded 12% year-on-year growth in its assets under management to INR 8.44 trillion as of Mar. 31, with quarterly average assets under management of INR 9.28 trillion at the end of March, up nearly 20%. Its market share as of Mar. 31 was 11.4%, slightly down from 11.5% a year ago. Within its assets, the market share of equity-oriented funds was 13% at the end of March, higher than 12.8% a year ago. For debt funds, it was 12.9%, down from 13.1% at the end of March last year.

To increase its assets under management, the company will work closely with HDFC Bank Ltd. to boost flows via systematic investment plans, Munot said. The company's assets under management under systematic investment plans at the end of March were INR 15.1 trillion, lower than INR 16.6 trillion at the end of December but higher than INR 13.4 trillion at the end of March last year. "While HDFC Bank continues to be a steady partner, we will continue to work with all other major banks to increase SIP flows," he said. 

Speaking about the changes to the total expense ratio, the asset manager's senior management said the gross impact from the change would be to the tune of 3 basis points, with expense rationalisation and improved operations limiting its blow. Effective Apr. 1, SEBI has reduced brokerage charges to 2 bps from 12 bps for cash market transactions and 1 bp from 5 bps for derivative transactions. This reduction in total expense ratio is expected to hit asset management companies' profit margin, forcing them to reduce expenses. "The AUM of the industry has been rising steadily in the last few years and this should bring down the cost of operations," the company said.  End

Edited by Rajeev Pai

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

Informist Media Tel +91 (22) 6985-4000 /+91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.