MUMBAI: Record inflows into open-ended equity mutual funds, which surged 21.7% on a month-on-month in October at Rs 41,887 crore, made it the 44th month of positive inflows.
It helped overall industry assets rise marginally, yet hit a record at Rs 67.25 lakh crore in October, up from Rs 67.09 lakh crore in September. This is despite the fact the market was at its monthly worst in year, losing over 6% from September peak.
As per the Association of Mutual Funds (Amfi) data, fund inflows into open-ended equity funds stayed in positive zone for the 44th month in a row, taking total assets under management of mutual funds to Rs 67.25 lakh crore in October, marginally up from Rs 67.09 lakh crore in September, making it an all-time high.
Despite massive inflows, the bleeding market has ensured that all equity mutual fund categories had negative returns in the reporting month, with the automotive sector suffering the most significant decline. Meanwhile, mutual fund folios rose to an all-time high of 21,65,02,804 in the month. Of this, retail folios also rose to an all-time high at 17,23,52,296.
Of the Rs 67.25 lakh crore, total AUM, retail fell to Rs 39,18,611 crore as against Rs 40,44,098 crore in September. Number of new SIPs registered stood at 63,69,919 and their AUM is stood at Rs 13,30,429.83 crore. SIP contribution stood at an all-time high of Rs 25,322.74 crore as against Rs 24,508.73 crore in the previous month.
Inflows to others categories, including index funds and ETFs, surged 620% to Rs 23,428 crore, while inflows to hybrid funds reached Rs 16,863.3 crore and inflows to exchange-traded funds (ETFs) reached Rs 13,441.8 crore.
Despite steep fall in the Sensex (5.77%) and the Nifty (6.22%) in October, 82% of equity MFs outperformed their benchmarks led by contra funds which jumped 100% in its outperformance rate. “October numbers are indeed phenomenal, especially given the backdrop of a steep market correction.
Strong inflows across large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap funds, as well as sustained interest in sectoral and thematic funds, indicate investors are looking beyond short-term market fluctuations and focusing on long-term wealth creation,” said Santosh Joseph, cofounder of Germinate Investor Services. Anand Vardarajan of Tata AMC said strong flows across categories and asset classes are evident, with equity remaining positive across categories, driven by SIPs reaching all-time high of Rs 25,000 crore.