Inflows into equity MFs surge to one-year high of Rs 11,485 cr in March

Inflows into equity mutual funds surged to Rs 11,485 crore in March, the highest level in a year, even as the broader market witnessed heavy volatility amid concerns over the impact of coronavirus.

Overall, the mutual fund industry witnessed a net outflow of Rs 2.13 trillion across all segments, mainly owing to withdrawal from liquid or money market category, data by the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed on Thursday. In comparison, an outflow of just Rs 1,985 crore was seen in February.

The outflow has pulled down the assets under management of the 44-players mutual fund industry to Rs 22.26 trillion in March-end from Rs 27.23 trillion in February-end.

According to the data, inflows into equity and equity-linked open-ended schemes was at Rs 11,723 crore, while an outflow of Rs 238 crore was seen from close ended funds, taking the net inflow to Rs 11,485 crore. This was much higher than a net infusion of Rs10,760 crore was seen in February.

This is the highest level since March 2019, when equity schemes attracted an inflow to the tune of Rs 11,756 crore. The inflow is well spread among the categories of funds such as large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and multi-cap.

Multi-cap, large-cap, ELSS (equity-linked saving schemes) and mid-cap saw inflows of Rs 2,268 crore, Rs 2,060 crore, Rs 1,551 crore and Rs 1,233 crore, respectively during the month under review. Besides, gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw an outflow of Rs 195 crore last month, after seeing the highest inflows of Rs 1,483 crore in February.

Interestingly, investments into gold ETFs dropped in March after rising for the fourth straight month.