Data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India show that the number of mutual fund folios has gone up by 15.74 lakh in the last four months, touching a record 4.92 crore in July, reported PTI. According to Sebi, the folio count soared to 4,92,37,194 in July from 4,76,63,024 in March. Besides, there has been a net inflow of over Rs 1.92 lakh crore in mutual fund schemes from April to July.

Analysts said the rise was because retail investors started showing interest in mutual funds. Folios are numbers allocated to every individual investor account. However, one investor can have multiple accounts. In the last financial year, as many as 59 lakh folios were added while the year before that recorded 22 lakh new folios.

While the equity folios jumped by 8 lakh to 3.68 crore in the past four months, the investor accounts for debt-oriented schemes rose by 5.8 lakh to 8.9 crore. Head of Quantum Mutual Fund Harshad Chetanwala said the debt segment is expected to do even better in the future.