Equity schemes see inflows for 18th straight month

So far, this fiscal the equity segment has seen inflows to the tune of Rs 62,000 cr

Riding high on BSE Sensex surge, equities schemes saw robust inflows for the 18th straight month in October, with inflows of Rs 6,005 crore. The benchmark Sensex rose 1.6 per cent in October.

Since May last year, Rs 1.29 lakh crore has flown into mutual fund (MF) equity schemes, which many see as a counterbalance to foreign portfolio investment.

The equity segment has seen inflows of Rs 62,000 crore so far this financial year. This includes Rs 20,000 crore in inflows in April and May, despite foreign brokerages scaling back their year-end Sensex targets.

In the past financial year, equity schemes saw inflows of Rs 71,000 crore ($12 billion). Assets under management (AUM) in the equity segment in October stood at Rs 3.56 lakh crore. Currently, the Rs 13-lakh crore MF industry offers about 440 equity-related funds to investors.

“The outlook on other alternate avenues of investment whether real estate or gold is muted, and the percentage of savings in financial products is going up. We expect robust inflows into MFs to continue,” said Himanshu Vyapak, deputy chief executive officer (CEO), Reliance MF.

According to Rajiv Shastri, CEO at Peerless MF, the industry is getting inflows across the board in equity funds. “Though the market has been choppy, domestic retail investors have not been that worried about the volatility. While foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have taken money out, domestic retail participants have consistently invested over the last 18 months,” he said.

Liquid/money market schemes, had seen sizeable outflows of Rs 60,861 crore in September, got inflows of Rs 1.03 lakh crore in October. The outflows in September were part of the typical outflows seen in this category every quarter.

Nearly 12,000 investors have opened equity accounts per day so far this financial year till September. Put together, in the first half of the current financial year, the fund sector added 2.15 million folios, a little less than the whole of last year’s. In August and September, the sector added a million equity accounts, despite a sharp correction in the markets.  

Gold exchange-traded funds saw net outflows of Rs 69 crore in October, taking total outflows this financial year to Rs 489 crore.