Mutual fund assets soar past Rs 66.70 trillion mark as SIPs hit record highs

Inflows into thematic/sectoral funds remained robust at Rs 18,117.18 crore in August, fuelled by new fund offers, as five new funds in the category collected Rs 10,202 crore during the month.

In the fixed-income category, debt mutual funds saw net inflows of Rs 45,169.36 crore in August, which is not even half of the July netting of Rs 1,19,588 crore.

Ultra-short duration funds saw a 92 per cent dip in inflows at Rs 695.62 crore, while outflows in banking and PSU funds rose to Rs 1,549.99 crore. Short-duration liquid funds also saw an 81 per cent slump in inflows at Rs 13,594.87 crore. On the other hand, overnight funds saw a 239 per cent jump in inflows at Rs 15,105.93 crore, while Gilt funds saw a 51 per cent rise in inflows at Rs 1,902.09 crore.

Inflows into hybrid funds, which invest in more than one asset class, slumped by 43 per cent to Rs 10,005.30 crore in August. Flows were restricted by a 78 per cent slump in arbitrage funds at Rs 2,372.13 crore. Additionally, the multi-asset allocation fund category saw a 10 per cent dip in inflows to Rs 2,826.89 crore. The conservative hybrid fund saw small outflows to the tune of Rs 186.84 crore.

On the other hand, dynamic asset allocation/balanced advantage funds saw a 79 per cent rise in inflows to Rs 3,215.06 crore.

Among passive funds, index funds saw a 60 per cent dip in net inflows to Rs 3,247.24 crore. However, gold exchange-traded funds saw net inflows of Rs 1,611.38 crore, a jump of 20 per cent over the previous month.

Meanwhile, the fund of funds investing overseas category saw net outflows of Rs 352.83 crore during the month. Overall, open-ended mutual funds saw net inflows of Rs 1,08,240.95 crore.

According to Manish Mehta of Kotak Mahindra AMC, “Net flows continue to remain encouraging with inflows into SIPs and NFOs. Sectoral/thematic funds saw strong inflows due to NFOs, which seem to be the preferred route for investors to take a lumpsum allocation to mutual funds since schemes have the flexibility to invest over a stipulated time period.”