Equity mutual funds witness an inflow for first time in 9 months in March

Equity mutual funds witnessed a net inflow of Rs 9,115 crore in March, making it the first net infusion in nine months.

Prior to this inflow, equity schemes had been witnessing net outflow since July.

However, investors pulled out Rs 52,528 crore from debt mutual funds last month after investing Rs 1,735 crore in February, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) showed on Thursday.

Overall, the mutual fund industry witnessed a net outflow of Rs 29,745 crore across all segments during the period under review, compared with a net inflow of Rs 4,090 crore in February.

According to the data, inflow from equity and equity-linked open-ended schemes was at Rs 9,115 crore in March, compared with an outflow of Rs 4,534 crore in February.

Barring multi-cap and value fund categories, all the equity schemes saw inflow last month.

Overall, equity schemes had witnessed an outflow of Rs 9,253 crore in January, Rs 10,147 crore in December, Rs 12,917 crore in November, Rs 2,725 crore in October, and Rs 734 crore in September, Rs 4,000 crore in August and Rs 2,480 crore in July, which was their first withdrawal in over four years.

Prior to this, such schemes had attracted Rs 240.55 crore in June.

Apart from equities, gold exchange-traded funds witnessed a total net inflow of Rs 662 crore last month, compared to Rs 491 crore in February.

The asset under management of the mutual fund industry was at Rs 31.43 lakh crore in March-end, from Rs 31.64 lakh crore in February-end.