The short answer is yes, and the gap is much bigger than most people expect. As of June 2025, 86 percent of mutual fund assets held by investors in India’s smaller cities and towns, the B30 category, sat in equity-oriented schemes. In India’s top 30 cities, the T30 category, that figure was just 54 percent.
That is not a small statistical quirk. It is a 32 percentage point gap between how investors outside India’s largest cities allocate their money and how investors inside those cities do. This piece looks at what is actually behind that gap, using AMFI’s own asset-mix data, and what it means once you understand why it exists.
The Numbers: B30’s Equity Tilt in Black and White
AMFI tracks the split between equity-oriented schemes, which include equity and balanced funds, and non-equity-oriented schemes, which include liquid, money market, and debt-oriented funds, separately for T30 and B30 locations.
| Period | B30 Equity Share | T30 Equity Share |
|---|---|---|
| June 2024 | 85% | Not separately disclosed (non-equity share was materially higher) |
| June 2025 | 86% | 54% |
B30’s equity share barely moved between June 2024 and June 2025, holding at 85 to 86 percent across both readings. This is not a one-off spike tied to a particular month or a temporary trend. It is a stable, structural pattern that has held consistently over at least a full year of data.
Why Is B30 So Much More Equity-Oriented?
The explanation is not that B30 investors are inherently more aggressive or risk-tolerant than T30 investors. It has more to do with who is actually behind the money in each category.
| Investor Type | Share from T30 | Share from B30 |
|---|---|---|
| Individual investors (June 2025) | ~72.6% | ~27.4% |
| Institutional investors (June 2025) | ~95.4% | ~4.6% |
Institutional money, from corporates, banks, and large institutions, is overwhelmingly concentrated in T30 locations, accounting for over 95 percent of all institutional assets. Individual investor money is more evenly split, with B30 contributing over a quarter of the total. This matters because institutions typically park large sums in liquid and debt-oriented schemes for short-term treasury management, not long-term equity growth. T30’s lower equity share is heavily diluted by this institutional, non-equity money. B30, holding almost none of that institutional money, is left as an almost entirely individual, retail investor base, and individual investors in India have consistently favoured equity funds over debt and liquid funds for their long-term goals.
What Non-Equity Really Means Here
It is worth being precise about what the T30 category’s larger non-equity share actually represents, since “non-equity” sounds like caution or conservatism at first glance, but the reality is more specific.
Liquid and money market schemes, which make up a meaningful part of T30’s non-equity total, are used heavily by corporate treasuries to park short-term cash, not by individual investors saving towards retirement or a child’s education. A large share of this money moves in and out based on quarterly business cycles and tax payment schedules rather than personal financial planning. Once you separate this institutional cash management activity from genuine individual investor behaviour, T30’s non-equity share looks less like retail caution and more like corporate liquidity management that happens to be routed through mutual funds.
Digging Deeper: Direct vs Distributor Split by Scheme Type
AMFI’s data also breaks down how investors access each scheme type, direct or through a distributor, and this adds further context to the equity tilt.
| Scheme Type | Share Bought Direct (June 2025) |
|---|---|
| Liquid/money market schemes | 83% |
| Debt-oriented schemes | 68% |
| Equity-oriented schemes | 29% |
Liquid and money market schemes, dominated by institutional investors, were 83 percent direct in June 2025. Equity-oriented schemes, in contrast, were only 29 percent direct, meaning 71 percent came through a distributor. This pattern reinforces the earlier point: the non-equity, direct-heavy segment of the industry is largely an institutional phenomenon, while equity investing, whether in T30 or B30, still leans heavily on distributor involvement.
Is This a New Trend or a Consistent Pattern?
Looking at the year-on-year comparison rules out the possibility that B30’s equity tilt is a temporary artefact of one unusually strong or weak month for a particular scheme type.
B30’s equity share moved from 85 percent in June 2024 to 86 percent in June 2025, a one percentage point shift. T30’s non-equity share similarly stayed in a tight band across the same period. This stability across a full year, spanning different market conditions including the sharp correction in early 2026, suggests the asset-mix gap between T30 and B30 reflects a structural difference in who invests through each channel, not a temporary market-driven anomaly.
What This Means: B30 Is Growing More Aggressively, Not Just Faster
Combining this data with B30’s overall growth story adds an important dimension. B30 is not simply adding more investors and more assets at a faster rate than T30. It is doing so while holding a portfolio mix that is far more concentrated in equity, which carries higher return potential over the long term but also higher short-term volatility than debt or liquid funds.
This changes how you should interpret B30’s growth numbers. A region growing quickly while holding an 86 percent equity allocation is taking on meaningfully more market risk, in aggregate, than a region growing at a similar pace with a more balanced 54 percent equity allocation.
The Other Side: Does Higher Equity Exposure Explain B30’s Volatility Sensitivity?
This equity concentration may help explain a pattern seen elsewhere in recent data: B30 investors using direct plans closed their SIPs at roughly 2.6 times the rate of B30 investors using regular plans during a period of market stress in early 2025. A portfolio that is 86 percent equity will show sharper swings in value during a correction than one that is roughly half equity, half debt, simply because more of the portfolio is exposed to the asset class that moves the most.
If B30 investors are, on average, carrying more equity exposure than T30 investors, the same percentage market fall would produce a larger felt impact on their portfolio value, which could plausibly make panic-driven decisions, such as pausing a SIP, more likely during a sharp correction. This is not a certainty based on the data alone, but it is a reasonable, testable explanation worth keeping in mind alongside the direct-versus-regular plan gap already observed in B30 behaviour.
What This Means for You as an Investor
None of this data tells you what your own equity allocation should be, since that depends on your goals, age, and risk appetite rather than which city you live in. It does offer useful context for understanding your own portfolio relative to broader patterns.
| If You Are… | What to Consider |
|---|---|
| A B30 investor with a heavily equity-weighted portfolio | Confirm that allocation genuinely matches your goals and time horizon, rather than simply reflecting what is common in your region. |
| A T30 investor with a more balanced allocation | Check whether that balance reflects your own financial plan, since T30’s average is diluted by institutional cash management activity unrelated to individual investing. |
| Unsure whether your equity exposure is too high or too low | This is a goals-and-timeline question, not a location question, and is worth reviewing with an advisor rather than benchmarking against a regional average. |
If you are a B30 investor holding a heavily equity-weighted portfolio, it is worth confirming that allocation genuinely matches your goals and time horizon, rather than simply reflecting what is common in your region. If you are a T30 investor with a more balanced allocation, it is worth checking whether that balance reflects your own financial plan or is simply diluted by comparison to a national average that includes large amounts of institutional cash management activity that has nothing to do with individual investing at all.
A VSJ FinMart advisor can help you look past regional averages and build an equity-debt mix that is actually right for your specific goals, whether you are investing from a metro or a town well outside India’s top 30 cities.
Frequently Asked Questions on B30 Equity Allocation
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Do B30 investors really hold more equity than T30 investors? | Yes. As of June 2025, 86% of B30 mutual fund assets were in equity-oriented schemes, compared to 54% in T30, according to AMFI data. |
| Why is T30’s equity share so much lower? | T30 holds over 95% of the industry’s institutional assets, and institutions typically park money in liquid and debt-oriented schemes for short-term treasury management, which pulls down T30’s overall equity share. |
| Does this mean B30 investors are more risk-tolerant? | Not necessarily. The gap is largely explained by B30 being an almost entirely individual, retail investor base, while T30’s numbers are diluted by institutional cash management activity. |
| Is B30’s high equity allocation a new trend? | No. B30’s equity share was 85% in June 2024 and 86% in June 2025, showing a stable, consistent pattern rather than a recent shift. |
| Could higher equity exposure explain why some B30 investors panic during corrections? | It’s a plausible contributing factor. A more equity-heavy portfolio shows sharper value swings during a market fall, which could make panic-driven decisions more likely, though this is not confirmed by the data alone. |
Final Words
Investors outside India’s top 30 cities do genuinely prefer more equity, and by a wide margin. As of June 2025, 86 percent of B30 mutual fund assets sat in equity-oriented schemes, compared to 54 percent in T30. The gap is not driven by B30 investors being unusually bold. It largely reflects how much institutional, non-equity money is concentrated in T30 locations, which dilutes T30’s equity share relative to a B30 base made up almost entirely of individual investors.
Understanding this distinction matters more than the headline statistic itself. A high equity allocation is not inherently right or wrong; it depends entirely on whether it fits your own goals and time horizon. A conversation with a VSJ FinMart advisor is the right way to find out whether your own portfolio mix reflects a genuine plan or simply the regional pattern you happen to be part of.
Disclaimer
The information provided in this blog is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be construed as investment advice. Please consult a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Shashikant Chanderkumar Mudaliar (ARN: 319377), operating under the brand name VSJ FinMart, is an AMFI-registered Mutual Fund Distributor (MFD) and does not provide investment advisory services. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please read all scheme-related documents carefully before investing. Registration details can be verified at www.amfiindia.com/locate-distributor.