Mutual Funds attract Rs 4,200 cr in May

Mutual Funds attracted nearly Rs 4,200 crore in May, taking the total net inflow close to Rs 57,000 crore in the past one year, primarily on account of positive returns from equities.

This also marks the 13th consecutive month of net inflows by mutual fund houses into the stock markets.

Industry insiders believe that mutual funds would continue to attract medium to long term money into equities even as the stock markets have turned volatile in the last few weeks.

According to data released by capital market regulator Sebi, MF houses infused a net amount of about Rs 4,177 crore in the stock markets in May this year.

The money in equities started coming in from the second half of May 2014, after the announcement of General Election's verdict and the momentum has continued till date.

Prior to that, MFs had been net sellers in the stock markets and in April last year, they had pulled out close to Rs 2,700 crore.

Since May 2014, fund houses have infused a net amount of Rs 56,841 crore in stock markets.

"Despite the recent volatility in the markets, fund managers are bullish on the equity markets. Mutual Funds have been witnessing net inflows from the investors as they are getting positive returns by investing in stock markets," Quantum AMC Associate Fund Manager (Equity) Nilesh Shetty said.

"Even in case there is some instability in the market, we may not see huge redemptions as investors have seen good returns by investing in equities in the medium and long term," he added.

The market benchmark Sensex has gained 3,611 points or 15% in the last one year. The Sensex had hit a record high over 30,000 points earlier this year, but a sharp meltdown thereafter has brought it down to 26,768 points.

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