Asset under mutual fund industry was down marginally in February at Rs 23.16 lakh crore against Rs 23.37 lakh crore, largely due to outflow from liquid and income funds.
Inflow into equity funds including equity-linked saving schemes also slowed down 17 per cent last month to Rs 5,122 crore against Rs 6,158 crore logged in January on the back of turbulent market condition, according to data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).
Liquid fund witnessed an outflow of Rs 24,509 crore against an inflow of Rs 58,637 crore in January while outflow from balanced fund was higher at Rs 1,077 crore (Rs 952 crore).
NS Venkatesh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), AMFI said mutual fund has managed to hold fort despite turbulent market condition as retail investors continued to repose their faith in mutual funds.
Both balanced and liquid funds have been under pressure for last few months. Inflow into liquid fund was impacted by tight liquidity condition while volatile G-sec market had taken its toll on balanced funds. Yields have not moved despite global central banks reversing their dovish monetary stand, he said.
In fact, he added that even the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has changed its stance on interest rate from calibrated tightening to neutral. This is the right time for investors to look at Gilt funds for better returns, he said.
Mutual funds have acted as a counter balance to foreign portfolio investors pull-out by pumping in Rs 1.19 lakh crore in last one year and Rs 1.10 lakh crore in this fiscal, said Venkatesh.
Inflows into mutual fund through systematic investment plan was up a tad last month at Rs 8,094 crore against Rs 8,063 crore in January. In last one year, inflow through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) alone was at about Rs 95,000 crore, said Venkatesh.
The asset mobilised through SIP was up two per cent at Rs 2.43 lakh crore (Rs 2.39 lakh crore). Other ETF (exchange traded fund) saw higher inflow of Rs 5,234 crore against Rs 721 crore largely due to inflows into follow-on Bharat-22 ETF launched by the government.
The total number of folios in mutual fund industry was up at 8.91 crore against 8.17 crore in January.