The country's mutual fund industry witnessed a decline in the average assets under management, for the second month in a row, to Rs 7.61 lakh crore in January. The industry's average AUM fell by Rs 32,853.79 crore or 4.13 percent during the said month. The combined average AUM of the 37 fund houses stood at Rs 7,61,632.26 crore at the end of January, according to a data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).

Reliance MF maintained its numero uno position as the country's largest fund house with an AUM of Rs 1,17,248.56 crore during the month, despite losing Rs 2,733.22 crore from its assets. Marketmen said that fall in assets of mutual funds was due to correction in the equity market in the past month in addition to banks opting to remain away from mutual funds.

Reliance MF was followed by the country's second largest fund house HDFC MF's AUM that witnessed an erosion of Rs 2,386.83 crore. HDFC MF, which saw its AUM in November cross the Rs 1- lakh crore mark, had average assets worth Rs 94,797.01 crore at January end. The country's third largest fund house, ICICI Prudential MF, saw its AUM falling by Rs 4,059.86 crore during the month to Rs 78,372.38 crore.