The number
On the schemes' own disclosures, the most widely named fund manager in India is Abhishek Bisen of Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, on 88 live schemes.
The source is each scheme's Scheme Summary Document (SSD), the standard filing in which a fund house lists who manages the scheme, alongside its exit load, minimums and benchmark. We hold the latest SSD for 2,167 live schemes; the newest were filed on 30 September 2026. A manager is counted once for each scheme that names them, whether as the lead, a co-manager or a specialist.
The ten most-named managers
| Manager | Fund house | Schemes | Of which passive |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abhishek Bisen | Kotak Mahindra | 88 | 56 |
| Nishit Patel | ICICI Prudential | 59 | 59 |
| Swapnil Mayekar | Motilal Oswal | 52 | 46 |
| Rakesh Shetty | Motilal Oswal | 52 | 37 |
| Gopal Agrawal | HDFC | 51 | 0 |
| Venus Ahuja | ICICI Prudential | 51 | 50 |
| Ekta Gala | Mirae Asset | 50 | 50 |
| Nikhil Satam | Groww | 49 | 41 |
| Arun Agarwal | HDFC | 48 | 42 |
| Jeetu Valechha Sonar | Kotak Mahindra | 46 | 44 |
"Passive" here means the scheme's name marks it as an ETF, an index fund or a fund-of-funds. Across all 2,167 live schemes, 854 (39%) are passive by that rule.
Mostly passive books
Nine of the ten are named chiefly on passive funds. Nishit Patel's 59 and Ekta Gala's 50 are all passive. Abhishek Bisen's list mixes Kotak's gold and silver ETFs and dozens of index funds with active funds such as Kotak Multi Asset Allocation and Kotak Balanced Advantage.
An index fund has no stock-picking to do, so one team can run many. Fund houses have launched index funds and ETFs by the hundred, and the manager count shows where they landed.
The roles show it too. On ICICI Prudential's documents, Nishit Patel is listed as a co-manager ("Comanage") on 56 of the schemes that name him. On Motilal Oswal's, Swapnil Mayekar is most often listed as managing a scheme's equity component.
A role, not a portfolio
The exception in the table is Gopal Agrawal of HDFC, named on 51 live schemes, none of them passive. They include HDFC Liquid Fund and HDFC Corporate Bond Fund alongside equity funds.
His HDFC documents explain why. Each of the 52 HDFC SSDs that name him lists a Fund Manager for Overseas Investments with a start date of 1 September 2026, and on HDFC Liquid Fund and HDFC Corporate Bond Fund he is the one named in that role. On those two at least, it is a specialist responsibility for whatever foreign securities the scheme holds, not the day-to-day running of the portfolio.
This is common. 128 live schemes' SSDs name a manager whose role mentions overseas investments, 64 of them at HDFC, and 46 name a manager for a commodity, gold or silver component.
The typical manager
Strip away the long tail at the top and the picture is ordinary:
- 640 managers are named across the 2,167 live schemes
- the median manager is named on 4 schemes
- 130 are named on just one
- 144 are named on 10 or more, and 64 on 20 or more
Most schemes name a team. 553 of the 2,167 name a single manager; the average is 2.23 per scheme.
What this does not tell you
A name on a filing is not a workload. Being named as a co-manager, a dealer or an overseas specialist is different from running the portfolio. The SSDs do not say how a team divides the work.
Counting by money double-counts. Adding up the assets of every scheme a manager is named on gives each co-manager full credit for the same rupee. On that basis Gopal Agrawal would be credited with ₹7,04,234 crore of April–June 2026 average assets: the sum of every scheme that names him, in whatever role.
Spellings vary. A manager can appear as "Jeetu Valechha Sonar" in one filing and "Jeetu Valeccha Sonar" in another. We count names as each document's parsed list gives them, so a few people may be split or merged; our fund managers directory, built from the schemes' longer SID filings, reconciles these differently.
None of this rates a manager. How many funds a person is named on says nothing about how well any of them is run.
Where to go from here
The fund managers directory lists every manager with their schemes, experience and qualifications. The guide to fund manager changes covers what to do when the name on your fund changes. For the houses these managers work at, see the largest fund houses by AUM, and for why so many of the schemes are index funds, how many schemes India has.
Frequently asked questions
Which fund manager manages the most mutual fund schemes in India?
On the schemes' own summary documents, Abhishek Bisen of Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund is named on 88 live schemes, the most of any manager. 56 of them are index funds, ETFs or fund-of-funds by name, including Kotak's gold and silver ETFs.
How many schemes does a typical fund manager run?
The median manager is named on 4 live schemes. Of 640 managers named across 2,167 live schemes' summary documents, 144 are named on 10 or more and 64 on 20 or more.
Why is one manager named on so many funds?
Usually because the funds are passive, where a team runs many index funds and ETFs, or because the role is a narrow one. For example, 64 of HDFC's live schemes' summary documents name a Fund Manager for Overseas Investments.
This is commentary on published data, not investment advice. WealthTicker is not a SEBI-registered adviser or distributor. Figures are as of the dates stated and can be revised by their source.
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