With the equity markets scaling new heights, equity mutual funds too had a spectacular run in the month of May.
Inflows to pure equity mutual funds saw an increase of 15% to Rs.10,208 crore in May, the highest since June 2015. Experts attribute it to the investor confidence in the market and the consistent monthly inflow through SIP in equity funds.
"Investor awareness programme and paperless investing platform for mutual fund investing are the two major factors that have facilitated this growth in net inflows. In addition to these, even the investors' confidence in mutual funds has increased. Now, they are holding their investments in equity oriented schemes for a longer period of time for both lump sum as well as SIP investments," says Rahul Parikh, CEO of Bajaj Capital.
Earlier in June 2015, equity funds have witnessed net inflows of Rs.11,999 crore.
The high inflows have helped the assets under equity funds increase by Rs.13,394 crore to Rs.5.18 lakh crore in May.
Balanced funds continued to occupy the second position in terms of net inflows. Inflows to these funds increased by 7.4% to Rs.7,663 crore.
Vidya Bala, Head of Mutual Fund Research at FundsIndia says, “Investors are confident about the market. New investors are taking the balanced funds route to start investing in mutual funds as its equity exposure is moderate. Going forward inflows in balanced funds are likely to increase.”
If we include ELSS, balanced funds, and ETFs that track indices, the overall inflows in equity funds rose 11% to nearly Rs.19,000 crore in May.
ELSS was the only category among equity funds to witness a fall in net inflows as investor appetite is typically weak during the beginning of a financial year. Inflows in ELSS and ETFs stood at Rs.531 crore and Rs.584 crore in May, respectively.
Gold ETF, gilt, liquid, and FOFs investing overseas were the categories that witnessed net outflows in the month.
Monthly net inflow/(outflow)
Category |
|
|
Change |
Change % |
Equity |
10,208 |
8,842 |
1,366 |
15.4% |
ELSS |
531 |
587 |
-56 |
-9.5% |
Balanced |
7,663 |
7,136 |
527 |
7.4% |
ETFs other |
584 |
456 |
128 |
28.07% |
ETFs gold |
-71 |
-66 |
-5 |
-7.5% |
Income |
5,124 |
34,647 |
-29,523 |
-85.21% |
Gilt |
-25 |
-462 |
437 |
94.6% |
Liquid |
-64,692 |
99,403 |
-164,095 |
-165% |
FOFs investing overseas |
-33 |
-40 |
7 |
-17.5% |
Total |
-40,711 |
1,50,703 |
-191,414 |
-127% |
Source: AMFI
Figures in rupees crore