After PPFAS Mutual Fund of Parag Parikh Financial Advisory Services Group gained registration with SEBI last month, the number of registered mutual funds in India reached 50.

The latest list of SEBI-registered mutual funds shows that there were 50 such entities in the country as on 31st of October this year.

PPFAS Mutual Fund is the only mutual fund that has been registered with Indian market regulator SEBI so far this year. In 2011, SEBI registered a total of three fund houses, viz. IIFL Mutual Fund, Union KBC Mutual Fund and Indiabulls Mutual Fund. In 2010, two fund houses, viz. IDBI and Pramerica, gained their SEBI registrations.

In India, the mutual fund industry was started in the year of 1963, when the Government of India announced the formation of Unit Trust of India (UTI).

The second mutual fund of the country, the SBI MF, came into being in 1987. In subsequent years, the government established LIC (Life Insurance Corporation of India) and GIC (General Insurance Corporation of India).

With the establishment of the Kothari Pioneer Fund in 1993, private sector players also jumped into the Indian mutual fund arena.

Indian mutual fund industry has enjoyed phenomenal growth, from around Rs 25 crore worth assets under management in 1965 to nearly Rs 7 lakh crore now.