Mutual fund inflows, equity market performance witness decoupling

Data shows that SIPs now account for 34 per cent of the total equity AUM compared to 25 per cent at the end of FY19

For the first time in a decade, inflows into equity mutual funds (MFs) decoupled from the past performance of the equity market, as investors continued to pour money into the market unperturbed by lacklustre returns.

Inflows into equity funds have remained strong since November 2022 despite a poor one-year return scorecard for most schemes, shows a research by Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE).

In every previous phase of equity market underperformance since January 2021, inflows had nosedived after a period of six months, the study shows.

The deviation from the past trend this time was underpinned by steady flows through systematic