Mutual funds sees Rs 1.51 lakh crore inflow in April

In the entire 2016-17, investors pour over Rs 3.43 lakh crore into various mutual fund schemes

Investors have pumped in nearly Rs 1.51 lakh crore into various mutual fund schemes in April, with liquid, income and equity funds attracting most of the inflows.

This comes following an outflow of close to Rs 55,000 crore in the preceding month.

"Indian investors have now eventually assimilated mutual funds and the credit goes to awareness programs and endeavours by regulators and AMCs in mutual fund industry," Bajaj Capital CEO Rahul Parikh said.

"Besides, investors have preferred debt and balanced category of mutual funds because of falling interest rates of secured investment schemes like PPF (Public Provident Fund) and Bank FDs (Fixed Deposits)," he added.

Further, Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) and Systematic Transfer Plan (STP) ways of investing have also given the investors a choice as well as flexibility of investing periodically or in lump sum as per their preference.

According to data by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), a net sum of Rs 1,50,703 crore has been invested in mutual funds in the month of April.

In the entire 2016-17, investors had poured over Rs 3.43 lakh crore into various mutual fund schemes.

The latest inflows have been mainly driven by liquid, income and equity funds.

Liquid or money market fund category attracted Rs 99,403 crore, income funds saw net inflows of Rs 34,647 crore while equity and equity-linked schemes saw inflows of Rs 9,429 crore.

However, gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) witnessed a withdrawal of Rs 66 crore.

Liquid and money market funds invest mainly in money market instruments like commercial papers, treasury bills, term deposits and have a lower maturity period and do not have any lock-in period.

An income fund emphasises on current income, either on a monthly or quarterly basis, as opposed to capital appreciation. Such funds usually hold a variety of government, municipal and corporate debt obligations, preferred stock and dividend-paying stocks.

The inflow has pushed assets under management (AUM) of all the active 42 fund houses to a record Rs 19.36 lakh crore at the end of April, from Rs 17.55 lakh crore at March-end.