This is the 38th month of consecutive net equity inflows with investors adding ₹18,917 crore in April. However, fresh commitments last month declined about a sixth from ₹22,633 crore in March.
Monthly flows through systematic investment plan (SIPs) rose to a new high of ₹20,372 crore, higher than ₹19,271 crore in March.
With corporates buying debt funds again at the start of the financial year, debt funds saw inflows of ₹1.90 lakh crore. Total average assets under management of the industry moved to a new high of ₹57.01 lakh crore, compared with ₹55 lakh crore in the previous month.
“We are seeing preference for large-cap oriented schemes and multi asset allocation products. Investors understand that time in the market is important than timing the market and hence continue to add investments through SIP/STP,” said Manish Mehta, national head – sales, marketing & digital business at Kotak Mahindra AMC.After a month of staying away, investors came back to small-cap funds. Such schemes saw inflows of ₹2,209 crore, compared to outflows of ₹94 crore, in the previous month. Mid-cap funds too saw higher inflows of ₹1,793 crore compared to ₹1,018 crore the previous month.Investors continued to put money in sectoral and thematic funds with such schemes receiving ₹5,166 crore. Large and midcap schemes attracted ₹2,639 crore, large-caps ₹358 crore, multi caps ₹2,724 crore and flexi-cap ₹2,173 crore. ELSS schemes saw outflows of ₹144 crore as some investors booked profits after completing the mandatory lock-in period of three years.Debt-oriented schemes saw inflows of ₹1.9 lakh crore, primarily due to investments of ₹1.02 lakh crore in liquid funds, ₹34,000 crore in money market funds and ₹21,000 crore in overnight funds.
“This surge in inflows can be attributed to factors such as quarter-end demands for advance tax, diminishing year-end redemptions, and continued volatility in the stock markets, leading investors to favour cash for short-term investments,” says Gopal Kavalireddi, vice president of research at FYERS.
In the hybrid space, arbitrage funds which investors have been using to park money instead of liquid funds due to tax efficiency saw inflows of 13,901 crore compared to outflows of 297 crore in March.
Balanced advantage funds saw inflows of 1,344 crore lower than the previous months’ 1,733 crore and equity savings funds that allocate a small component of 10-25% of their portfolios to equity saw inflows of 1,295 crore. Multi asset funds, which invest in a mix of equity, fixed income and gold saw inflows of 3,312 crore.
Gold ETFs saw outflows of 395 crore as investors booked profits after the sharp surge in price in recent months. Fund of funds that invest overseas saw some outflows of 370 crore.