Flows through the systematic investment plan (SIPs) hit an all-time high of ₹24,509 crore in September compared to ₹23,547 crore in August.
Among debt funds, liquid and overnight funds saw outflows to the tune of ₹1.14 lakh crore. The industry’s total assets under management (AUM), however, rose to ₹68 lakh crore in September compared to ₹66 lakh crore in August.
“Many new investors now begin their investments with systematic investment plans (SIP), compared to recurring or fixed deposits, which is driving higher money into equity funds,” said Sandeep Bagla, chief executive officer, Trust Mutual Fund.
Investors continued to pour money into sectoral and thematic new fund offers (NFOs) with sectoral and thematic funds getting ₹13,254 crore, the highest among all categories. According to a study by Morningstar India, the highest number of schemes were launched in the index fund category. Out of them, 13 cumulatively garnered ₹3,656 crore followed by the sectoral or thematic category which saw four scheme launches-Axis Consumption, Bandhan Business Cycle Fund, HSBC India Export Opportunities and Invesco India Technology Fund which garnered ₹7,842 crores during September.
Within equity schemes, investors continued to allocate to a mix of flexicap, large-cap, mid and small cap funds. Multicap funds, which invest in a mix of large, mid and small-cap funds, saw inflows of ₹3,509 crore, while flexicap schemes garnered ₹3,215 crore.Investors continued to put money into mid and small-cap funds with these schemes garnering ₹3,130 crore and ₹3,071 crore respectively. Large and midcap schemes saw flows to the tune of ₹3,598 crore.Liquid and overnight schemes saw outflows of ₹72,666 crore and ₹19.326 crore respectively while money market funds saw outflows of ₹23,421 crore.
“The outflows in September were driven by increased corporate redemptions to meet second-quarter advance tax obligations,” says Nehal Meshram, senior analyst, manager research, Morningstar Investment Research India.
Gold ETFs saw inflows of ₹1,232 crore as the absence of sovereign gold bond (SGB) issuances in this financial year prompted investors to opt for this product.
In the hybrid space, arbitrage funds, a product investors have been using to park idle money, saw outflows of ₹3,532 crore in September compared to inflows of ₹2,372 crore in the previous month. Multi-asset allocation funds, which invest in a mix of debt, equity and gold, saw higher inflows of ₹4,070 crore compared to ₹2,827 crore in the previous month. Balanced advantage funds saw inflows of ₹1,703 crore and equity savings funds saw inflows of ₹2,269 crore compared to ₹1,456 crore in the previous month.
