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The AUM of the MF industry has increased by 4% to reach Rs.41.52 lakh crore in April 2023 to Rs.40.06 lakh crore in March 2023.
Overall, the new financial year started on a positive note. The industry witnessed net inflows of over Rs.1.21 lakh crore in April 2023.
Here are the other key highlights of April 2023.
Fund flows across categories
Equity funds - Overall net inflows decreased substantially from Rs. 20,534 crore in March 2023 to Rs.6480 crore in April 2023. Only one equity fund was launched during April, ICICI Prudential Innovation Fund, which collected close to Rs.1600 crore.
In March, the industry collected close to Rs.4000 crore from three NFOs.
Further, category-wise review shows that small cap funds received the highest inflows of Rs. 2200 crore. Mid cap funds witnessed the next highest flows of Rs. 1800 crore.
Akhil Chaturvedi, Chief Business Officer, Motilal Oswal MF said, “Inflows in the small cap category remained strong in continuation of recent trend. Small caps look reasonably attractive at these levels post the price correction they went through during FY22-23. Investors have also taken advantage of better investment environment in debt markets and also spurred by adverse change in taxation for debt funds by increasing allocation to hybrid funds.”
Manish Mehta, National Head and Sales, Marketing & Digital Business, Kotak MF said, “We believe since March witnessed good inflows in equity, investors probably took a wait and watch approach to allocating additional investments to equity in April while continuing with their existing SIPs.”
Barring focussed fund, all other equity funds also reported positive inflows.
Debt funds - Debt funds reported huge net inflows of over Rs. 1.06 lakh crore largely due to inflows of Rs.63000 crore in liquid funds.
Other categories of funds which saw inflows of Rs.10,000 crore were ultra-short term funds and money market funds.
Hybrid funds - Thanks to inflows of over Rs.3800 crore in arbitrage funds, the industry recorded net inflows of Rs.3300 crore in the hybrid category.
Barring arbitrage and multi asset funds, all other categories witnessed outflows in April.
Passive funds – Interestingly, passives funds recorded more inflows than active categories like pure equity funds and hybrid funds.
The category received inflows of close to Rs.7000 crore. ETFs recorded maximum inflows of Rs.6790 crore.
SIP - Investors registered 7 lakh SIPs in April 2023. The total SIP accounts and AUM stood at 6.42 crore and Rs. 7.17 lakh crore. Also, the monthly SIP flows reduced marginally to Rs.13,700 crore
G Pradeepkumar, CEO, Union MF said, "It is encouraging that the flows have remained positive in April. Historically, April is a relatively quiet month after the hectic activity in March. So not too much should be read into the net flows being lower compared to March. We are confident that the momentum will pick up in the coming months.”
N S Venkatesh, Chief Executive, AMFI said, “We expect gross monthly inflows through systematic investment plans to reach Rs 17,000-18,000 crore per month by the end of the fiscal year, indicating substantial growth potential. Investors must stay invested for the long term without getting swayed by market movements. Time spent in the market is the key rather than timing the market. Our campaigns also aim to creating awareness about goal-based investing, investing for the long-term.”
