Equity inflows slow down to Rs. 2,522 crore in February

Inflows in equity funds have dried up substantially as the Sensex went on a free fall in the run up to the Budget 2016.

The latest AMFI data shows that the pace of inflows in equity funds including ELSS has come down substantially, especially during the last three months. Equity funds received net inflows of Rs. 2,522 crore in February, down from the peak of over Rs. 12,000 crore net inflows received in June.

The AUM of equity funds fell from Rs. 3.84 lakh crore in January to Rs. 3.54 crore in February as the Sensex fell 8% last month.

Inflows in equity ETFs too slowed down in February which received net inflows of Rs. 1,190 crore in February. Experts attributed the decrease in inflows in equity funds to the recent volatility in the market. However, due to sustained inflows through SIPs, net inflows in the category are still positive, they said.

Riding high on the optimism surrounding the market, investors had poured in Rs. 8,000 crore on an average during April-Nov in equity funds. This has helped the industry garner close to Rs.75,000 YTD.

Inflows in equity funds April-February

Balanced funds

Balanced funds are the flavor of the season. The AUM in this category has jumped by 45% from Rs. 27,015 crore in April 2015 to Rs.39,104 crore in February 2016. In February too, balanced funds received net inflows of Rs. 941 crore.

ELSS

ELSS inflows saw a moderate growth with the tax season coming to an end in a few weeks. The category saw net inflows of Rs. 888 in February as compared to inflows of Rs.786 crore in January. ELSS funds manage Rs.36,409 crore AUM as on February 2016, which is 3% of the total industry AUM.

Other categories like income funds, gilt funds, gold ETFs and overseas fund of funds witnessed outflows in February.

The only category which saw healthy inflows in February was liquid funds which received net inflows of Rs. 20,039 crore.

All in all, the industry AUM dipped marginally by 0.85% from Rs. 12.73 lakh crore in January 2016 to Rs. 12.64 crore due to mark-to-market losses in equity funds.

Net inflow/outflow in February

Source: AMFI