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

Key Takeaways

• The 10 largest mutual fund houses paid distributors ₹16,551 crore in FY26, an increase of 12% year-on-year.
• SBI Mutual Fund's overall commission payout rose to ₹3,159 crore, while ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund paid ₹2,783 crore.
• Commission growth at several sponsor banks was slower than the increase in total distributor payouts by their associated AMCs.

Distributor commissions paid by India's largest mutual fund houses continued to rise in FY26 despite a more difficult equity-market environment and the increasing use of direct plans.

The country's 10 largest asset management companies paid ₹16,551 crore in commissions during FY26, up 12% from ₹14,797 crore in FY25, according to AMC commission disclosures analysed by Business Standard.

Commissions are paid to mutual fund distributors based on assets sourced and retained through them. Rates differ by product and distribution arrangement and can range from a few basis points to more than 1% of assets for some schemes.

Among the largest AMCs, SBI Mutual Fund paid ₹3,159 crore in total commissions during FY26, an increase of 10.7%. Of this, ₹1,605 crore was paid to its sponsor, State Bank of India, representing growth of 10.4% from FY25.

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund's total commission payout increased 17.5% to ₹2,783 crore. Payments to ICICI Bank rose 9.1% to ₹379 crore.

HDFC Mutual Fund paid distributors ₹2,471 crore in total, up 13.4%. Commission paid to HDFC Bank increased at a slower rate of 5% to ₹310 crore. Similar trends were reported for other bank-backed fund houses, including Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund and Axis Mutual Fund.

The disclosures also showed the scale of large independent distribution businesses.

NJ IndiaInvest was the biggest distributor for several leading AMCs and earned gross commissions of ₹1,071 crore from five of the top 10 fund houses for which it was the largest distributor.

The rise in total payouts occurred even as direct mutual fund plans continued to attract investors. Direct plans do not include distributor commissions in their expense structure, while regular plans compensate intermediaries through the scheme's expense ratio.

The FY26 disclosure therefore provides a measure of the continuing size of India's mutual fund distribution network even as digital and direct investing channels expand.