Mumbai, April 17 -- The total number of folios in the Indian mutual fund industry has nearly doubled in the last five years at 17.79 lakh crore in March 2024, up from 8.97 lakh crore in March 2020 on the back of increasing awareness and a growing interest among retail investors for investing in equities and bonds through the mutual fund route.

The opening up of branches of AMCs (asset management companies) beyond the top 30 towns is also encouraging more people to look at mutual funds as a suitable investment vehicle, which is evident in the surge in the number of folios, said ICRA Analytics.

Interestingly, retail investors account for a major share of the total number of folios.

According to the quarterly data on folio and ticket size...