Decoded: Into which mutual fund category is the money flowing?

The third quarter of fiscal year 2023-24 saw 49 new fund offerings (NFO), which cumulatively garnered Rs 16,093 crore during the NFO period, according to the domestic fund flows report by Morningstar India. period. The highest number of open-end schemes were launched in the sectoral category—nine followed by seven in the index funds category.

In January 2024 too sectoral mutual funds saw the biggest inflows of Rs 4,805 crore, followed by smallcaps at Rs 3,257 crore and multicaps at Rs 3,038 crore, shows the latest data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).

 Asset-management companies that experienced the highest net inflows (open-end funds and ETFs) in the third quarter of fiscal 2023-24 were ICIC Prudential, HDFC, Tata, Nippon and Kotak.

The total AUM of open-end equity funds as of December 2023 stood at INR 21,79,424 crores, up by a sharp 14% since the last quarter. Open-end equity funds form approximately 43% of the total open-end fund universe."During the quarter that ended December 2023, S&P BSE 100 TR rose by 9.7%, and the BSE Midcap and BSE Smallcap surged by 13.91% and 13.61%, respectively. Over the last year, the total AUM of open-end equity funds has grown by a sharp 43%," noted the Morningstar report.

Net Flows by Category Third-Quarter Fiscal 2024

 

Asset-Class AUM Split

Regarding weight, both the large-cap and flexi-cap categories continue to lead the AUM split with approximately 15% and 13.6%, respectively, followed by mid-cap with 13%. Cumulatively, there are 424 schemes in the open-end equity broad category as of December 2023. Currently with 149 schemes, the sectoral/thematic category has the highest number, followed by 42 schemes in the ELSS category and 38 schemes in the flexi-cap category.

The assets of the index funds category, too, have increased substantially: 8 per cent since the previous quarter and a phenomenal 55 per cent over the last year. With a total of 196 schemes now, the subcategory has assets of Rs 1,99,659 crores. These include both equity index funds as well as fixed-income index funds.