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he Indonesian Association of Mutual Fund Managers (APRDI) has said it expects the number of mutual fund investors to reach 7 million people in the next two years as the country'€™s population continues to grow.

Indonesia could count only around 250,000 mutual fund investors out of its total 240 million citizens as of December, according to Financial Services Authority (OJK) data.

Despite this relatively low number, APRDI chairman Denny R. Thaher said he was optimistic about the high potential for more mutual fund investors because of increasing awareness of investment among young people in major cities.

'€œWe predict that the domestic mutual fund industry will continue its booming trend for the next three years, because it has proven resilient and secure in all kinds of economic turbulence,'€ he said on Monday.

Indonesia'€™s solid economy and the financial market'€™s positive sentiment toward the new administration under President Joko '€œJokowi'€ Widodo would also prompt the mutual fund industry to grow its total assets under management (AUM) by 15 to 20 percent this year, Denny said.

According to Denny, the government'€™s plan to push infrastructure projects will create a multiplier effects on the whole economy, even though there remains a risk of capital outflows following the US Federal Reserve'€™s plan to hike its fund rate.

OJK data show that Indonesia'€™s total AUM in the mutual fund industry stood at Rp 266.22 trillion (US$21.09 billion) as of the third week of December, an increase of 21.49 percent from Rp 219.12 trillion year-to-date.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Composite Index '€“ the main price barometer on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) '€“ closed last year'€™s trading at 5,226.95, a 22.2 percent increase from the level recorded at the end of 2013. The surge was among the highest in Asia.

Denny said more effort and breakthroughs '€” especially in technology '€” to promote the benefits of mutual funds needed to be shown by fund managers if the country were to reach the goal of 7 million investors by 2017.

He revealed his association was currently promoting the implementation of a systematic investment plan (SIP), which entails investing several amounts of money with an automated-debit mechanism.

Members of the association had also decreased the minimum investment from Rp 250,000 to Rp 100,000 per investor in order to attract people with lower incomes, Denny added.

'€œA number of countries, such as India, have been successful in implementing the system, as investing in mutual funds has become simpler and more practical. We can imagine what the system will do for large companies that have thousands of employees who want to invest regularly,'€ he said.

As part of efforts to boost investor numbers, OJK commissioner for capital market supervision Nurhaida said the regulator had issued a regulation last year that allowed mutual fund products to be sold outside the domain of investment managers and banks, for example by insurance and financing companies, pension funds, the postal service and pawn shops.

'€œWe will always support efforts to grow Indonesia'€™s mutual fund industry through creating regulations that will simplify access to the products, while also ensuring that the new breakthroughs are safe and transparent,'€ she said.

She added that regular campaign roadshows to promote the initiatives were held in shopping malls, university campuses and the offices of the private and public sector, including at the OJK'€™s offices.