Equity MFs get retail lift, attract Rs 33,000-cr in Jun quarter

According to industry insiders, MFs would continue to attract medium-to-long term money in equities

Mutual fund managers continue to keep faith in equities, putting in nearly Rs 33,000 crore in April-June 2015, primarily driven by strong participation of retail investors.

This compares with an inflow of more than Rs 70,000 crore for the whole of 2014-15.

Industry insiders believe that MFs would continue to attract medium-to-long term money in equities even as the markets have turned volatile in the past few weeks.

Fund managers invested a net amount of Rs 32,933 crore in equities and equity-linked saving schemes during the first quarter (April-June) of the current financial year, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed.

Of the total, equity MFs attracted Rs 12,273 crore in June while the same stood at Rs 10,076 crore in May and Rs 10,584 crore in April.

In comparison, equity MFs saw an inflow of Rs 9,066 crore in the April-June quarter of 2014-15.

Mutual funds have been witnessing sustained inflows into equity schemes since May last year, primarily on account of smart returns from stock markets as well as strong participation from retail investors.

Interestingly, despite the sharp rise in volatility since March, investor inflows have remained steady.

The latest inflow pushed the asset base of equity funds to Rs 3.72 lakh crore in June, from Rs 3.45 lakh crore at the end of the last fiscal year.

MF is an investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors and funnelled into securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.