Investors withdraw Rs 74,000 crore from MF schemes in December

Investors pulled out over Rs 74,000 crore from various mutual fund schemes in December after net inflows during the preceding two months.

There was a net outflow of Rs 74,578 crore in December compared with net inflows of over Rs 1.15 lakh crore in October and November, according to data available with Sebi.

The net mobilisation in mutual funds was Rs 32,368 crore in 2013. The highest level of withdrawals in 2013 was in March, when investors pulled out Rs 1.08 lakh crore.

A mutual fund pools money from members and invests them in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.

At the gross level, mutual funds mobilised Rs 8.85 lakh crore in December, while redemptions reached Rs 9.59 lakh crore, resulting in a net outflow of Rs 74,578 crore.

The withdrawals contributed to a decline in total assets under management of mutual funds to Rs 8.26 lakh crore as of December 31, from Rs 8.9 lakh crore in the previous month.

The benchmark BSE Sensex gained 379 points, or 1.82%, in December as foreign institutional investors bought local shares.

"During the financial year 2013-14 so far April-December), mutual funds net mobilised Rs 76,098 crore as compared to Rs 1,20,269 crore mobilised in the corresponding period of 2012-13," Sebi said.