Widely read:
हिंदी में भी पढ़ें 
It was the beginning of 1992. The Sensex, a barometer for the market's health, was on the brink of crossing the 2,000 mark. But what followed was nothing short of a fairy tale for investors. Within a mere three months, it had soared past 4,000, marking the most remarkable bull run.
During this period of euphoria, the Unit Trust of India (UTI), launched the UTI Mastergain 92. This came on the heels of another fund, the UTI MEP 92, which had gathered a corpus of Rs 1,251 crore through its NFO (new fund offer).
But the good times didn't last long. The Harshad Mehta scam reared its ugly head, and the market nosedived.
Despite the turmoil and ensuing investor panic, Mastergain 92 collected a whopping Rs 4,472 crore during its NFO period. To this day, only six equity and two hybrid funds have surpassed this amount through their NFOs.
The biggest NFOs of all time
| Fund name | Category | Launched in | NFO collection (₹ cr) |
|---|---|---|---|
| SBI Balanced Advantage | Dynamic Asset Allocation | Aug-21 | 14,551 |
| BHARAT 22 ETF | Large Cap | Nov-17 | 14,499 |
| ICICI Prudential Flexicap | Flexi Cap | Jul-21 | 9,808 |
| SBI Multicap | Multi Cap | Mar-22 | 8,170 |
| Reliance Focused Large Cap | Flexi Cap | Mar-06 | 5,790 |
| Reliance Natural Resources | Large & Mid Cap | Feb-08 | 5,660 |
| NJ Balanced Advantage | Dynamic Asset Allocation | Oct-21 | 5,216 |
| Axis Multicap | Multi Cap | Dec-21 | 5,042 |
| UTI Mastergain 92 | Flexi Cap | May-92 | 4,472 |
| Note: Only equity and hybrid funds are considered. Reliance Focused Large Cap Fund and Reliance Natural Resources Fund were merged into Nippon India Focused Equity Fund and Nippon India Vision Fund, respectively. UTI Mastergain 92 has since been renamed to UTI Flexicap. | |||
Adjusted for an annual inflation of 7 per cent over 32 years, the fund (through its NFO) collected what would be nearly Rs 39,000 crore in today's terms. If that collection had been invested in the Sensex in 1992, it would have grown to a little over Rs 95,000 crore now, given that the Sensex has grown over 21 times since then.
The long journey
The fund has seen it all in its 32-year journey. From name changes to absorption of funds, Mastergain 92 even shed its closed-ended fund status. Meaning, it started accepting investors' money from 1997.
As of January 31, 2024, the veteran fund manages Rs 25,156 crore, delivering a 12.5 per cent return since its inception. To put it in perspective, if you had invested just Rs 10,000 in it during the NFO, you'd have Rs 4.3 lakh as of March 4, 2024.
Further, had there been a way to invest Rs 1,000 monthly in UTI Mastergain 92 through an SIP, that investment would be worth a jaw-dropping Rs 58.3 lakh today (14 per cent SIP return). However, it's worth noting that it took investors 11 years to start seeing any profit from their investments because the Indian market itself was in the doldrums.
As we stand today, it has been close to nearly 32 years since the launch of UTI Mastergain 92, and we have yet to witness such a massive frenzy for one fund.
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