Top 10 Mutual Fund Houses’ Commission Payouts Rise 12% to ₹16,551 Crore in FY26

Key Takeaways

• Distributor commissions paid by India's 10 largest mutual fund houses increased 12% to ₹16,551 crore in FY26.
• SBI Mutual Fund recorded an overall commission payout of ₹3,159 crore, while ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund paid ₹2,783 crore.
• Payments to sponsor banks generally grew more slowly than the overall commissions paid by the respective fund houses.

Commission payouts by India's largest mutual fund houses increased at a double-digit pace in FY26, even as direct plans continued to form an important part of the industry's distribution mix.

The country's 10 largest asset management companies paid distributors a combined ₹16,551 crore during FY26, up 12% from ₹14,797 crore in the previous financial year, according to AMC commission disclosures reported by Business Standard.

SBI Mutual Fund recorded the largest overall payout among the figures disclosed, with commissions rising 10.7% to ₹3,159 crore. Of this, ₹1,605 crore was paid to sponsor State Bank of India, representing a 10.4% year-on-year increase.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund's total commissions increased 17.5% to ₹2,783 crore. Payments to ICICI Bank stood at ₹379 crore, up 9.1%. HDFC Mutual Fund's overall commission payout increased 13.4% to ₹2,471 crore, while the amount paid to HDFC Bank rose by a comparatively smaller 5% to ₹310 crore.

The disclosures therefore show a distinction between the growth in overall distributor remuneration and payouts made specifically to sponsor banks. Similar patterns were also reported for other large bank-backed fund houses.

NJ IndiaInvest remained the biggest distributor for several large AMCs. It received gross commissions of ₹1,071 crore from five of the 10 leading fund houses for which it was the largest distributor.

Distributor commissions are linked to assets sourced and retained through distribution channels and vary according to the scheme and commercial arrangements. Annual commission rates can range from a few basis points to above 1% of assets for certain schemes.

The FY26 disclosures provide a useful measure of how the economics of mutual fund distribution have evolved alongside the expansion of direct investing. Direct and regular plans serve different distribution channels, making commission disclosures an important indicator of the scale of intermediated mutual fund assets.