Mutual Funds are on hiring spree

Mumbai: The mutual fund sector, on the contrary to the current trend of slowdown in hiring, is on a headhunting spree. With around 20 new players stepping on this field and the existing players planning for expansion, the demand for fresh recruits is on the rise.

As reported by Financial Chronicle, around 35 existing mutual fund houses whose average assets under management (AUM) in August stood at 5, 44, 363.57 crore and the new firms altogether will pull in atleast 1300-1500 employees within the next 12 to 18 months. The recruitments will be done for posts like fund managers, research analysts, sales and marketing executives and distributors. Arindam Ghosh, CEO Mirae Asset Global Management says, "There is a definite demand-supply mismatch. This situation may aggravate further with the entry of new players."

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"However, through these recruitments, the funding houses will tap the experienced people from other financial sectors like banking and insurance sector," says Jaydeep Bhattacharya, Chief Marketing Officer, UTI asset management. But the growing demand for more work force will lead the firms to resort to less experienced ones. Infact, Dhirendra Kumar, CEO Value Research, a mutual fund tracking firm, is of the opinion that it will make it imminent for the firms to let inexperienced persons manage the business.

As far as the salaries are concerned, the employees shall see a hike in the short term but finally it will tow the lines of the industry trend. The exact nature of the hikes shall depend on the kind of performance of the respective firms. It is the fixed income products which are showing better results, but the equity products are seen to be losing its luster. So, if the condition persist for a longer time then the fund houses shall come into difficulties as its the equity schemes through which they earn more.

The slowdown in this sector is triggered by the fact that investors are taking cautious steps as the sector has witnessed a fall by 25 percent below the benchmark of the Sensex. Thus, the growth of the mutual fund industry is also seen to be slow which stands at 47 percent CAGR while for Russia its 97 percent and for China its 67 percent CAGR. Thus, there is a lot of growth opportunities for the firms in this area as it also lags in retail penetration.

Currently only two percent of 32 crore wage earners is seen to invest in the equity field.