MF exposure to bank stocks drops to Rs 73,000 crore in March

Decline follows all-time high exposure of Rs 77,805 crore in the preceding month

Mutual fund (MF) managers dropped their exposure in bank stocks to over Rs 73,000 crore in March after raising it for six consecutive months.

MF investments in bank stocks declined to Rs 73,575 crore as on March 31 after hitting an all-time high of Rs 77,805 crore in the preceding month, according to the latest data available with Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).

In comparison, the investment in banking stocks stood at Rs 40,293 crore in March 2014.

Mutual Fund investment in banking stocks account for 20.42 per cent of the total equity assets under management (AUMs) of Rs 3.6 lakh crore.

It had been continuously raising exposure to banking shares since September last year.

According to market participants, funds have been showing interest in banking stocks since September last year amid rising equity markets and the current decline is mainly due to profit-booking.

Fund houses have shown strong interest in overall equity market on the back of positive returns.

MFs are investment vehicles made up of a pool of funds collected from a large number of investors and invest in stocks, bonds and money market instruments, among others.