Inflow into equity funds was down 40 per cent in October to ₹5,215 crore against ₹8,677 crore in September as investors booked profit amid a fall in fresh fund mobilisation, which dipped 22 per cent to ₹28,671 crore (₹36,657 crore). This is the lowest inflow into equity funds since April 2021.

Thematic and flexi cap funds registered the highest inflow of ₹1,734 crore and ₹1,122 crore, followed by large-cap and focussed funds at ₹747 crore and ₹696 crore, according to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India on Wednesday.

Though the equity funds recorded a net inflow, ELSS and value funds logged an outflow of ₹488 crore and ₹349 crore on profit booking. Hybrid funds registered an inflow of ₹10,437 crore (₹3,588 crore), with the new fund offer of Balanced Advantage Fund of NJ Mutual Fund mopping up ₹5,216 crore.

New passive funds

This apart, new passive funds of Aditya Birla MF, ICICI MF, Edelweiss MF and HDFC MF, raised ₹2,267 crore, while the new debt fund of SBI MF mopped up ₹251 crore.

Himanshu Srivastava, Associate Director, Morningstar India, said it was the eighth consecutive month of net inflows into equity-oriented funds, totalling ₹73,766 crore since March. Interestingly, they had seen a net outflow of ₹46,791 crore in the previous eight months between July 2020 and February 2021. Investors need to be judicious while investing in thematic funds as they are cyclical in nature and tend to carry a higher risk than regular diversified equity funds, he added.

Systematic investment

Inflows through systematic investment plans (SIPs) set a new record of ₹10,519 crore against ₹10,351 crore logged in September, while the number of SIP accounts hit a new high of 4.64 crore (4.49 crore). Assets under SIP were up at ₹5.53-lakh crore (₹5.45-lakh crore).

Net debt funds inflow turned positive last month at ₹12,984 crore against an outflow of ₹63,910 crore in September. The overall asset under management of mutual funds increased marginally to ₹37.33-lakh crore against ₹36.74-lakh crore in September.

NS Venkatesh, Chief Executive, AMFI, said net positive flows in most open-ended schemes, coupled with continued buoyancy in SIP flows, have peaked overall asset under management of the mutual fund industry.

Akhil Chaturvedi, Chief Business Officer, Motilal Oswal AMC, said the higher net flows in the hybrid and balance advantage category signify that retail investors are cautious at current market levels and are prudent by taking a balanced view while limiting investment in equity.

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