Debt-oriented mutual fund schemes witnessed a net outflow of over ₹51,900 crore in September, making it the second consecutive monthly withdrawal, largely on the back of a massive pull out from liquid category.

Morningstar India Associate Director - Manager Research Himanshu Srivastava said that investors are focusing on fixed income categories having relatively shorter duration profile, such as low duration and short duration funds, given the current interest rate scenario. In addition, they are preferring funds with pristine credit quality, especially from banking & PSU category, he said.

According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), mutual funds (MFs) that invest in fixed-income securities or debt funds saw an outflow of ₹51,962 crore last month as compared to ₹3,907 crore in August. Prior to that, debt funds had seen an inflow of ₹91,392 crore in July, ₹2,862 crore in June, ₹63,665 crore in May and ₹43,431 crore in April.

“With September being the quarter-end month, debt-oriented schemes expectedly witnessed significant net outflows,” Srivastava said.

Cautious investments

Groww co-founder and COO Harsh Jain said the outflow is expected at the end of every quarter as corporates take out money from liquid funds to pay tax. Liquid funds witnessed net outflows to the tune of ₹65,952 crore, which is where corporate companies tend to park money, followed by ultra short duration funds (₹4,867 crore) and money market funds ( ₹4,857 crore).

Further, investors continue to tread a line of caution by staying away from riskier investments, given the credit crisis in the March-April period, which adversely impacted fixed income markets. Hence, credit category continues to witness outflows, although the pace has slowed down significantly, Srivastava said.

Credit risk funds saw an outflow of ₹539 crore in September compared to ₹554 crore in August, ₹670 crore in July, ₹1,494 crore in June, ₹5,173 crore in May and ₹19,239 crore in April.

Gilt funds, which attracted investor interest in the recent times given their sovereign status and zero exposure to credit risk, experienced net outflow of ₹483 crore in September, which was lower than the net outflow of Rs 1,122 core in August.

The performance of the category this year so far has been good which would have prompted investors to book profits.

However, funds with pristine credit quality, especially from categories such as banking and PSU and corporate bond continue to gain traction from investors highlighting their preference for safety in this segment. In fact, banking & PSU fund was the biggest beneficiary during the month with a net inflow of ₹6,416 crore.

In addition, short duration and low duration funds saw inflow of ₹3,853 crore and ₹1,818 crore, respectively. The assets under management of debt mutual funds dropped to ₹12.14 lakh crore at the end of September from ₹12.61 lakh crore at August-end.

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