MUMBAI: Following the steep correction in silver prices towards late January and the resultant heightened volatility, the exchange-traded funds (ETFs) of the white metal saw the first net outflow in 28 months in February.
While the month saw gross inflows of Rs 4,628 crore, redemptions stood at Rs 5,455 crore leading to a net outflow of Rs 826.3 crore, marking the first net outflow since November 2023, compared with net inflows of Rs 9,463.40 crore in January, Amfi said Tuesday. It added that the overall mutual funds industry’s AUM rose to Rs 82,02,956.35 crore or Rs 82.03 trillion in the month, up from Rs 81.01 trillion in the previous month.
During the reporting month, silver prices rose 10%, following a 19% increase in January, despite the 31% single day crash on January 30. So far in 2026, silver has gained about 20%. Earlier, prices rose 27% in December 2025 and 16% in November taking the full 2025 surge to 148% on the back of a 22% rally in 2024.
Silver ETFs had seen strong investor participation in recent years. In 2025, silver ETFs received inflows of Rs 23,472 crore, compared with Rs 8,568 crore in 2024.
Similarly inflows into gold ETF also slowed sharply in February, with investors putting in just Rs 5,255 crore, a steep moderation from Rs 24,039.96 crore in January 2026.
Despite the sharp month-on-month moderation, inflows remained significantly higher than several earlier months. In December, gold ETFs had attracted Rs 11,647 crore, while inflows stood at Rs 3,742 crore in November and Rs 7,743 crore in October.
Gold ETF inflows had already begun strengthening toward the end of last year, with Rs 8,363 crore flowing into the category in September, followed by Rs 7,743 crore in October and Rs 3,742 crore in November before the sharp spike in January.
Gold has increasingly become a preferred diversifier during uncertain market phases. Vikas Gupta of OmniScience Capital said, "The continued inflows into gold ETFs and multi-asset strategies indicate that investors are responding to recent strong performance in these segments and are looking for diversification amid geopolitical and market uncertainties."
The MF lobby Amfi said retail folios rose to 20.64 crore in the month from 20.43 crore in January taking the retail AUM to Rs 47,14,392 crore or Rs 47.14 trillion.
Meanwhile, the month also saw positive equity inflows for the 60th month, starting from March 2021.
Despite better market sentiment in the month, SIP inflows declined to Rs 29,845 crore from the previous month when it was Rs 31,0002 crore. The SIP AUM stood at Rs 16.64 trillion accounting for 20.3% of the overall AUM across 9.44 crore accounts.
The month also saw as many as 22 schemes being launched, of which 21 were open-ended funds and one was close-ended, raising a total of Rs 5,357 crore.
Commenting on the numbers, Amfi chief executive Venkat Chalasani said, “The February numbers reflect the continued stability and resilience of the industry, with assets under management rising to Rs 82.03 trillion. Equity funds saw net inflows of Rs 25,978 crore, marking the 60th consecutive month of positive inflows."
Sanjay Agarwal, a senior director at Careedge Ratings, said, “Equity inflows remain resilient even as bullion inflows skid. In February, equity inflows stood steady at Rs 25,978 crore indicating sustained investor participation, with inflows continuing to remain positive for five years and accounting for a larger share of the industry assets."
On the other hand, with volatility in gold and silver prices, Agarwal said precious metal ETFs inflows moderated back to August 2025 levels, after record levels since September 2025.
“Even with market fluctuations, overall inflows remain strong, showing that investors are increasingly focusing on long-term wealth creation rather than short-term movements,” said Varun Gupta of Groww Mutual Fund.
Feroze Azeez, joint chief executive of Anand Rathi Wealth, said the latest data reflect the growing maturity of retail investors despite phases of market volatility and an uncertain global backdrop. Investor interest remained particularly strong in flexi caps, mid caps and small caps, indicating that investors are increasingly looking beyond short term market movements and participating in India’s long term growth opportunity.
Commodity experts said the ongoing price correction hints at a possible consolidation phase in silver prices before they take off to higher levels. Silver prices have risen too fast in 2025 which made many investors book profits. Also, some savvy investors may have switched their allocations from over-heated precious metals to relatively attractively priced equities in the recent past.
Himanshu Srivastava of Morningstar India said a notable feature of the month is the sharp pickup in flows into the mid-cap and small-cap categories. Mid-cap funds attracted net inflows of about Rs 4,003 crore, while small-cap funds garnered around Rs 3,881 crore, both significantly higher than the previous month. This indicates that investors continued to selectively allocate towards higher-growth segments despite valuation concerns, possibly taking advantage of recent market corrections.
At the same time, sectoral and thematic funds also saw a surge in inflows to about Rs 2,987 crore largely due to the launch of six new funds which cumulatively garnered net assets worth Rs 3,560 crores. This indicates that many of the existing funds have not been able to garner net inflows, he said.
“Overall, the flow trend suggests that domestic investor participation remains robust, with allocations increasingly reflecting a mix of growth-seeking behaviour in mid- and small-cap segments along with continued interest in diversified and flexible strategies. The persistence of inflows despite market fluctuations highlights the growing maturity of retail investors and the structural strength of the mutual fund investment ecosystem in the country,” Srivastava said.
Across passive fund categories, which include index funds, gold ETFs, other ETFs and fund of funds investing overseas, total inflows stood at about Rs 13,879 crore, significantly lower than Rs 39,954 crore seen in January.
The mutual fund industry as a whole recorded net inflows of Rs 94,543 crore in February, lower than Rs 1.56 trillion in January, reflecting moderation in flows across several categories after the strong rebound seen in the previous month. Even so, the industry continued to remain in net positive territory, indicating sustained investor interest in mutual fund investments.
Debt mutual funds saw net inflows of Rs 42,106 crore, sharply lower than Rs 74,827 crore in January, yet the category remained in positive territory after witnessing a strong recovery last month following heavy outflows in December.