Mumbai, Feb 12
Investments in equity mutual funds in India remained steady at ₹39,688 crore in January, despite a fall in the stock market, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI).
This follows a strong inflow of ₹41,156 crore in December, which was a 14.5% increase from the previous month. While there was a slight dip in January, investments in open-ended equity funds have remained positive for 47 months in a row.
The decline in inflows came as the stock market struggled, with the BSE Sensex falling by 1.28% and the Nifty dropping by 0.99% during the month.
Investment expert Himanshu Srivastava from Morningstar India noted that domestic investors took advantage of market corrections to invest more in equity mutual funds. He added that more people are choosing mutual funds as a way to enter the stock market due to their benefits.
Among different fund categories:
- Small-cap funds saw a strong increase of 22.6%, attracting ₹5,721 crore.
- Mid-cap funds also gained slightly, with investments of ₹5,148 crore.
- Large-cap funds saw a significant jump of 52.3%, receiving ₹3,063 crore.
- Sectoral and thematic funds, however, fell sharply by 41.2% to ₹9,017 crore, mainly due to fewer new fund launches in January.
Meanwhile, debt mutual funds saw a major recovery, with net inflows of ₹1,28,653 crore in January, compared to heavy withdrawals of ₹1,27,153 crore in December.
- Liquid funds led the way with ₹91,593 crore.
- Money market funds followed, receiving ₹21,916 crore.
- However, short-duration funds and gilt funds saw withdrawals of ₹2,066 crore and ₹1,360 crore, respectively.
In total, mutual fund investments saw net inflows of ₹1,87,606 crore in January, a big turnaround from net outflows of ₹80,509 crore in December.
