Retail investors have reposed their trust in mutual funds despite high volatility in the market in February. Inflows through SIPs (Rs 11,438 crore) have remained close to the all-time-high of Rs. 11,517 crore touched in January 2021. During the month, the industry has also added close to 12.5 lakh new SIP accounts, shows latest AMFI data.
The numbers are impressive given the market situation. In February, both the key indices Nifty and Sensex fell around 5% in Febuary, mostly due to the Ukraine crisis.
"In current times of geo-political risks where markets have corrected sharply, the domestic investors have continued to add more allocation to equity. This is clearly change of attitude of investors towards this asset class and a definitely a positive change," said Akhil Chaturvedi, Chief Business Officer, Motilal Oswal AMC.
Here's how various scheme categories performed in February 2022:
Equity funds:
Net inflows in equity schemes rose to Rs. 19,705 crore in February from Rs. 14,888 crore in January. All categories of equity schemes have seen net inflows. Flexicap funds were the top gainers with Rs. 3,874 crore net inflow followed by thematic funds.
Debt funds:
Debt funds have recorded a negative inflow of Rs. 8,274 crore due to net outflows from all scheme categories except liquid funds and overnight funds. Short duration funds and floater funds have registered highest net outflows at Rs. 12,000 core and Rs. 10,200 crore, respectively. Liquid funds have received a net inflow of Rs. 40,200 crore. As per AMFI CEO NS Venkatesh, investors have booked profit from rest of the debt funds and parked a portion of it in liquid funds due to interest rate risks
Hybrid funds:
These funds have received a net inflow of Rs. 3,177 crore, driven mostly by balanced advantage funds which received a net of Rs. 2,118 crore in February. Arbitrage funds and conservative hybrid funds have seen net outflows at Rs. 336 crore and Rs. 51 crore, respectively
Overall trend:
The industry AAUM has declined to Rs. 38.56 lakh crore in February from Rs. 38.90 lakh crore in January. SIP AUM stood at Rs.5.50 lakh crore in February, slightly down from Rs. 5.8 lakh crore in January
