Equity mutual funds see outflows for 8th straight month in Feb

Equity mutual funds witnessed an outflow of Rs 10,468 crore in February, making it the eighthconsecutive monthly withdrawal, with flexi cap category accounting for most of the outflow.

However, investors put in Rs 1,735 crore from debt mutual funds last month after pulling out Rs 33,409 crore in January, data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India showed on Tuesday.

Overall, the mutual fund industry witnessed a net outflow of Rs 1,843 crore across all segments during the period under review, compared to Rs 35,586 crore in January.

Despite the outflow,asset under management (AUM) of the mutual fund industry rose to Rs 31.64lakh crore in February-end from Rs 30.5 lakh crore in January-end.

As per the data, outflow from equity and equity-linked open ended schemes was at Rs 10,468 crore in February compared to Rs 9,253 crore in January.

Barring multi cap, large & mid-cap and focussed fund categories, all the equity schemes have seen outflow last month. The newly created flexi cap category saw maximum outflow of Rs 10,431 crore.

Overall, equity schemes had witnessed an outflow of Rs 10,147 crore in December,Rs 12,917 crore in November, Rs 2,725 crore in October, Rs 734 crore in September, Rs 4,000 crore in August and Rs 2,480 crore in July, which was their first withdrawal in over four years. Prior to this, such schemes had attracted Rs 240.55 crore in June.

Apart from debt funds, Gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) witnessed an inflow of Rs 491 crore last month, compared to Rs 625 crore in January.