Equity mutual fund inflows flat in September; debt MFs see massive outflows

Inflows to equity mutual funds stabilised in September and were almost similar to August figures. The trend of NFOs contributing a big amount continued in September as well, AMFI data revealed.

Investors poured in a net Rs 8,677.41 crore in equity mutual fund schemes compared to Rs 8,666.68 crore in August. Across categories, NFOs mobilised Rs 8,283 crore in September. Since March this year, equity funds have received a net inflow of Rs 68,551.24 crore.

Among equity categories, multi-cap funds saw the biggest inflow of Rs 3,569.45 crore while sectoral and flexi-cap funds saw net inflows of Rs 2,000 crore each. Apart from ELSS, small-cap funds also witnessed outflows in September.

“Mutual fund monthly SIP contribution breaching Rs 10,000 crore milestone for the first time ever and industry AUM touching all-time high at Rs 36.73 lakh crore is historic, and is reflective of continued retail investor confidence in the mutual funds,” said NS Venkatesh, CEO, AMFI.

“Retail Investors are preferring mutual funds over low-yielding traditional savings avenues like bank FDs, and also gold and real estate. On the back of rapidly improving economic scenario, aided by conducive RBI policy and easing of Covid related restrictions, equities asset class would continue to deliver superior risk-adjusted returns,” Venkatesh said.

Equity-oriented NFOs continue to attract investors thus garnering robust flows, Himanshu Srivastava, Associate Director – Manager Research, Morningstar India, pointed out.

“During the month, five equity-oriented NFOs were launched which combined collected around Rs 6,579 crore, thus significantly contributing towards the net inflows. Passively managed funds continue to attract investors’ interest on the back of a sharp rally in the equity indices,” said Srivastava.

“Consequently, index funds and other ETF categories recorded a net inflow of Rs 10,764 crore in September. With all the segments of the market – large, mid and small-caps doing well, expectedly, multi-cap category was the biggest beneficiary during the month, followed by focussed and flexi-cap categories,” Srivastava said.

Debt mutual funds saw net outflows worth Rs 63,910.23 crore in the month of September. In August, debt schemes had garnered inflows worth Rs 1,074.44 crore. Liquid funds saw outflows worth Rs 48,379.18 crore, followed by low duration funds at Rs 16,609.25 crore.

“Given the quarter end, Debt oriented funds, prominently with less than one-year maturity, witnessed net outflows, largely on account of advance tax payment in September. Overall, the segment witnessed a net outflow of Rs 63,910.23 crore, led by significant net outflows from liquid, ultrashort, low duration and money market categories,” says Himanshu Srivastava.