Mutual funds industry has added 32 lakh new investors over the last one year mainly due to a spirited promotion campaign by the industry, a senior Amfi official said on Wednesday.

New Delhi: Mutual funds industry has added 32 lakh new investors over the last one year mainly due to a spirited promotion campaign by the industry, a senior Amfi official said on Wednesday.

The industry had launched the first leg of its very ambitious investor awareness campaign, 'mutual fund sahi hai' (mutual funds are right) for investors in March 2017.

The Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) now plans to soon launch the next leg of the media campaign that will communicate the benefits of being invested for longer term, especially when markets are volatile.

The first leg of the campaign got a very positive response as mutual fund companies saw an overall addition of 32 lakh new investors over the last one year, Amfi said in statement.

"Concerted efforts taken by the mutual fund industry through the 'mutual funds sahi hai' campaign, under the guidance of Sebi, supported by favourable market conditions and support from the distribution community, led to overwhelming success in the inaugural year of the mutual funds sahi hai campaign.

"Given the rising household incomes and higher appetite towards financial savings coupled with long-term India growth story, we are sure that mutual funds would become the investment option of choice of every household in the years to come," Amfi Chairman A Balasubramanian said.

He further said that the industry would continue to advocate investors to have patience and stay invested, add debt and hybrid funds to their portfolio and allocate more through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs), especially in periods of market volatility and aim to benefit over a longer term.

Apart from addition in mutual funds investors, the industry witnessed growth of 25 per cent or Rs 4.25 lakh crore in its assets under management (AUM) till February this year, in comparison from March, 2017. Moreover, the asset base of retail portion alone surged by 38 per cent to Rs 3.25 lakh crore.

In addition, the total number of folios and SIP accounts saw a growth of 26 per cent or 1.05 crore and 52 per cent or 70 lakh respectively during the same period. Monthly SIP contribution for the industry touched Rs 6,425 crore from 2.05 crore.

"We have seen tremendous growth within the mutual fund industry in the recent years. Going ahead, we want to build on the base and ensure that the momentum and the faith of the investors continue for investing in mutual funds over longer term," Amfi CEO NS Venkatesh said.

Along with the media campaign, the industry body said that focus will now be on-ground outreach programs. Amfi recently tied-up with a leading media house to launch Jan Nivesh -- an initiative that will educate, inspire and encourage Indians to change their financial habits to create wealth smartly by investing regularly in mutual funds and thus, make every citizen of India an equal participant in the country's economic growth story.

Along with millions of TV viewers, the Jan Nivesh initiative will also reach out to over 50,000 people on-ground through over 200 events in over 100 cities and towns.

"Amfi will also very soon launch the next leg of the media campaign. In the upcoming campaign, which continues under the mutual funds sahi hai banner, Amfi's objective is to communicate to the investor on the nuances of mutual fund investing, while extolling the benefits of being invested for longer term, especially when markets are volatile," the industry noted.

As part of the campaign, Amfi has a microsite, www.mutualfundssahi.com, available in English and Hindi, where investors can find detailed information about mutual funds and also locate their nearest mutual fund office and mutual fund distributors. The website will soon be made available in other regional languages.