Investing folio number mutual fund account

Folio number in mutual funds

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 18 May 2026. Reading time ~9 min.

A folio number is the unique account identifier assigned by a mutual fund AMC to an investor’s holding within that AMC. The folio holds all units across schemes within the same AMC, identified by a single number that the AMC uses to track ownership, transactions, statements, dividends and redemptions. The folio is conceptually similar to a bank account number, but operates at the AMC level rather than across the broader Indian banking or financial system.

An investor typically accumulates multiple folios over a long mutual-fund investing career: each AMC creates a separate folio, and the same AMC may create multiple folios under the same PAN if subscriptions are made through different distributors or platforms at different times. This article covers folio mechanics, how to find an existing folio number, consolidating multiple folios under one PAN, recovering forgotten folios through the MITRA initiative , and operational considerations.

Folio mechanics

Structure

A typical folio number consists of 8-15 digits, depending on the AMC’s numbering convention. Examples:

SBI Mutual Fund : typically a 10-digit number.
HDFC Mutual Fund : typically a 9-digit number followed by an alphabetic check character.
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund : typically an 11-digit number.

The folio holds all units across all schemes within the same AMC. For example, a single folio at HDFC Mutual Fund might hold units of HDFC Flexi Cap Fund, HDFC Liquid Fund and HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund.

Folio creation

A folio is created when an investor makes their first subscription to a scheme at the AMC. The folio creation requires:

PAN (Permanent Account Number).
KYC compliance (verified through Aadhaar e-KYC or video KYC).
Bank-account details for redemption credit.
Address, contact details, and nominee details.

The folio number is issued by the AMC’s Registrar and Transfer Agent (RTA) , which is either CAMS (serving roughly two-thirds of industry AUM) or KFin Technologies (serving the remainder).

Folio versus PAN

The PAN is the investor’s tax identifier and is the universal mutual-fund-investor identifier across all AMCs and KRAs. The folio is the AMC-specific account identifier within a single AMC. A single PAN can be associated with:

Multiple folios within the same AMC (if subscriptions came through different platforms or at different times).
Folios at multiple different AMCs.

How to find a folio number

From scheme statements

Each transaction at the AMC generates a Statement of Account (SOA) , which is delivered to the investor by email and physical post. The folio number appears prominently at the top of every SOA.

From the AMC website

Visiting the AMC’s website and accessing the investor login portal typically displays all folios under the investor’s PAN at that AMC.

From the CAMS or KFin portal

The CAMS Online portal and KFinKart portal consolidate folios across all AMCs served by each RTA:

CAMS Online shows folios at all AMCs whose RTA is CAMS (roughly two-thirds of the industry).
KFinKart shows folios at all AMCs whose RTA is KFin (roughly one-third).

A combined view of folios across both RTAs is available on the MF Central consolidated investor-services platform launched by AMFI in 2022.

From the Consolidated Account Statement (CAS)

The Consolidated Account Statement (CAS) is a monthly report (also available on-demand) that lists all mutual fund folios across all AMCs registered against the investor’s PAN. The CAS is generated by CAMS and KFin together, covering the entire industry.

A CAS can be requested through:

The CAS CAMS request portal .
The KFin investor portal.
Email request to the AMC.

The CAS is the single most-useful document for an investor wanting to map their complete mutual fund portfolio across all AMCs.

Consolidating multiple folios

Why consolidation matters

Investors often accumulate multiple folios at the same AMC if:

They subscribed through different distributors over time (each distributor may have created a new folio).
They subscribed both as a regular plan and a direct plan (different folios may be created).
The KYC details differed slightly across subscriptions (address change, phone number change).

Multiple folios at the same AMC fragment the investor’s holdings, complicate redemption planning, and increase the operational overhead of tracking transactions.

How to consolidate

To consolidate multiple folios at the same AMC under one folio:

Identify all folios under the investor’s PAN at the AMC (via the AMC website or CAS ).
Submit a folio consolidation request to the AMC, specifying the primary folio (to retain) and the secondary folios (to be merged).
Provide PAN, KYC, and signature verification.
The AMC consolidates the holdings into the primary folio, transferring all units while preserving the original purchase dates and NAVs for FIFO tax purposes.

Folio consolidation is not the same as folio transfer between AMCs (which is operationally a redemption and fresh subscription).

Forgotten folios and MITRA

The forgotten-folio problem

Long-running mutual fund investors sometimes lose track of folios created decades ago, particularly if:

The original AMC was acquired or merged (e.g., L&T Mutual Fund acquired by HSBC , IDFC Mutual Fund acquired by Bandhan ).
The investor’s address or contact details changed without updating the AMC.
The KYC records were not maintained current.
The investor passed away without notifying nominees of the folios.

AMFI estimates that thousands of crores of mutual fund units are held in inactive or forgotten folios across the industry.

The MITRA initiative

In 2024, AMFI launched the MITRA initiative (Forgotten Folios Tracing Reconciliation Aid) jointly with CAMS and KFin to help investors trace forgotten folios. The MITRA portal allows investors to search using their PAN and other identifiers, returning all folios registered against the PAN across the industry. The initiative aims to consolidate the inactive-folio backlog and bring forgotten units back to active management.

Folio operations

SIPs and folios

Each SIP is registered to a specific folio at the chosen AMC. Subsequent SIP instalments add units to the same folio.

Redemptions and folios

Redemption requests reference a specific folio and a specific scheme within that folio. The investor can redeem from one folio without affecting other folios at the same or different AMCs.

Nomination and transmission

Each folio carries its own nomination details. The SEBI nomination opt-out rule allows investors to explicitly opt out of nomination per folio. On the death of the investor, the mutual fund transmission process operates per folio, with the nominees receiving the units in the corresponding folio.

Statement frequency

AMCs send periodic SOAs and quarterly portfolio statements per folio. The investor’s email and physical-post address recorded against the folio governs delivery.

Folio versus demat

Folio-based holding

Most mutual fund units are held in the AMC’s folio (the “non-demat” or “physical” mode). The folio is the primary recordkeeping unit.

Demat-based holding

Some mutual fund schemes (particularly exchange-traded funds (ETFs) ) require demat-mode holding. The investor’s units are credited to the demat account at CDSL or NSDL rather than to an AMC folio. The conversion from folio-mode to demat-mode is the dematerialisation process , and the reverse is rematerialisation.

For the same scheme, folio-mode and demat-mode are alternative holding methods; the investor cannot hold the same scheme in both modes simultaneously.

External references

References

AMFI Best Practice Guidelines on folio management and consolidation.
SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations 1996 covering folio-related provisions.
CAMS and KFin Technologies investor portal documentation.
AMFI MITRA initiative announcement and operational guidelines (2024).

Reviewed and published by

WebNotes Editorial Team

The WebNotes Editorial Team covers Indian capital markets, payments infrastructure and retail investor procedures. Every article is fact-checked against primary sources, principally SEBI circulars and master directions, NPCI specifications and the official support documentation published by the intermediary in question. Drafts go through a second-pair-of-eyes review and a separate compliance read before publication, and revisions are tracked against the SEBI and NPCI rule changes referenced in the methodology section.

Last reviewed: 18 May 2026
Conflicts of interest: WebNotes is independent. No relationship with any broker, registrar or bank named in this article.