Mutual funds pump Rs 36,000 cr inflow in November; Rs 3 lakh-cr in Apr-Nov

Investors pumped in over Rs 36,000 crore into various mutual fund schemes in November, with equity and debt schemes cornering the maximum inflow.

With this, the total net inflow in MF schemes reached Rs 3.03 lakh crore in April-November of the current fiscal. MFs had witnessed an inflow of Rs 1.84 crore in the same period last year.

According to the data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), investors poured in a net Rs 36,021 crore in these schemes last month as against Rs 32,334 crore in the preceding month.

The latest inflow has been mainly driven by contribution from income fund or debt schemes. Besides, equity ones continued to see positive inflows.

Income funds, which invest in government securities, saw an inflow of Rs 18,306 crore while equity- and equity-linked saving schemes registered an infusion of Rs 9,079 crore.

Balanced funds, which invest in equity and debt instruments, saw an inflow of Rs 3,632 crore. However, gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) saw a pullout of Rs 69 crore during the period under review.

Bajaj Capital Group CEO and Director Anil Chopra said net inflows in most categories are positive and much higher than in the previous months. Over Rs 19,000 crore have also flown into various debt funds on a net basis.

"Demonetisation has played a major role in this buoyancy. Bank accounts of citizens are flush with liquidity as a huge amount of surplus funds has shifted from parallel economy to financial systems and equity markets have reacted negatively to demonetisation, giving a fresh set of opportunities to investors who were waiting for correction or decline in prices," Chopra said.

The outlook for next month seems to be even more positive as a massive shift will be experienced when excess liquidity in savings and Jan Dhan accounts are channelised into debt and equity mutual funds, he added.

Overall, the asset under management of the country's 43 active fund houses increased to a historic high of Rs 16.5 lakh crore at the end of November, from Rs 16.28 akh crore in October-end.