According to AMFI data, assets of all the 32 fund houses in the country increased to Rs 4,77,737.61 crore (Rs 4777.37 billion) as against Rs 4,67,623.44 crore (Rs 4676.23 billion) in August.

Reliance Mutual Funds maintained its top position with AUMs of Rs 70,440.57 crore (Rs 704.40 billion) as against Rs 67,597.65 crore (Rs 675.97 billion) in August, showing a growth of 4.2 per cent.

ICICI [Get Quote] Prudential remained at the second slot and added Rs 241 crore (Rs 2.41 billion) to its AUMs standing at Rs 50,369.93 crore (Rs 503.69 billion), while PSU major UTI MF was at the third rank with assets worth Rs 45,002.62 crore (Rs 450.02 billion)

However, overall AUMs are less than Rs 4,86,129 crore (Rs 4861.29 billion) in July. August witnessed a dip of Rs 18,500 crore (Rs 185 billion) in assets due to stock markets volatility over the US subprime mortgage crisis.

"Absence of any blockbuster New Fund Offerings (NFO) in the previous month has led to a slower growth in the AUMs of the fund houses," mutual fund tracking firm Value Research Online CEO Dhirendra Kumar told PTI.

Another reason was the offering of more closed-ended funds, making investors wary of putting their money into the schemes, he added.

In September, the benchmark Sensex crossed the 17,000 mark while National Stock Exchange's Nifty surpassed the 5,000 milestone. Mutual funds were net sellers as they sold off equities worth about Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).