SIPs shine in December

Retail investors continue to favour SIP. In a press conference today, AMFI CEO NS Venkatesh shared that SIP inflows touched an all-time high of Rs. 8,022 crore in December.

Venkatesh called the continued upward trend in retail AUM and monthly SIP contributions as the bright spot for the month. The sustained increase in systematic investments in face of market volatility reflects a strong adherence to disciplined investment behaviour from the retail investor fraternity, he said.

While the SIP flows flourished, overall equity inflows contracted to Rs. 6,651 in December from Rs. 8,629 in the previous month. According to Swarup Mohanty CEO, Mirae Asset MF, rather than focussing solely on December numbers, we should appreciate the investor resilience reflected by 12 consecutive months of positive flows in equities. “Moreover, the growth in SIP numbers indicate that retail investors could be taking the SIP route for adding equity exposure to their portfolio,” he added.

Vishal Kapoor, CEO, IDFC MF believes that while considering equity inflows we should remember that equity ETFs saw huge inflows of  Rs. 10,878 crore during the month. Though these inflows came into CPSE ETF, eventually they are equity allocations for investors.

Overall, all categories except equities, other ETF and foreign funds saw net outflows during the month. The total industry outflow stood at Rs. Rs. 1.37 lakh crore a sharp contradiction to the Rs. 2.28 lakh crore of inflows in the industry in November.

Majority of the outflows came from liquid funds, which saw net redemptions of Rs. 1.48 lakh crore. Incidentally, liquid funds were the key contributors to the substantial inflows received in November.  Historically, liquid funds see huge redemptions at quarter end. However, these funds return the following month.  

The December end AUM for the industry stood at Rs. 22.83 lakh crore.

Monthend AUM December 2018

Source: AMFI