Gush of money to continue: Good returns, few options to drive fund inflows

Fund managers expect the momentum to continue, given bullish sentiment on the Dalal Street

As India’s benchmark indices trade at all-time highs, inflows into equity mutual fund schemes are breaking new records every month. Investors have poured over Rs 1.3 trillion in the current financial year so far, almost double of what they invested in the whole of FY17.

Systematic investment plans (SIPs) are the biggest driver with monthly inflows through the route now worth Rs 62 billion per month — more than six times the average inflows during the post-Lehman crisis rally in 2009 and 2010. It shows in the industry’s asset under management (AUM) that has trebled in the past five years to