Investors bought equity funds worth ₹41,887 crore in October, the highest ever in a month, compared to ₹34,419 crore in September. SIP purchases amounted to ₹25,323 crore, up from ₹24,509 crore in the previous month. Debt funds saw inflows of ₹1,57,402 crore, largely from overnight and liquid funds. Strong flows and an increase in stock market valuation took the total average assets under management of the industry to ₹68.5 lakh crore, against ₹68 lakh crore in the previous month.
“We have seen heightened volatility in markets with FIIs (foreign institutional investors) selling due to major global events, including the US elections. The healthy net flows is a testimonial to the resilience amongst domestic investors to continue investing in equities despite market volatility,” said Akhil Chaturvedi, executive director, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund.
Investors continued to put money into sectoral and thematic funds, with these funds attracting ₹12,2278 crore in October.
Within equities, all categories saw robust flows from investors. Flexicap funds got the highest inflows of ₹5,181 crore, followed by large- and mid-cap funds, which attracted ₹4,857 crore. Large-cap funds attracted ₹3,452 crore, while multi-cap funds, which invest in a mix of large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap funds, saw inflows of ₹3.597 crore.
Flows into mid-cap funds increased to ₹4,683 crore in October from ₹3,130 crore in the previous month while small-cap funds got ₹3,772 crore compared to ₹3,071 crore.”Investors continue to navigate market volatility through SIPs, STPs (systematic transfer plans) and occasional one-time purchases on days when markets witnessed corrections,” said Manish Mehta, national head – sales, marketing & digital business, Kotak Mahindra AMC.Liquid and overnight schemes saw inflows of ₹83,863 crore and ₹25,784 crore, respectively, while money market funds saw inflows of ₹25,303 crore. In the hybrid segment, arbitrage funds, a product investors have been using to park idle money and get better tax adjusted returns compared to liquid funds, saw inflows of ₹7,182 crore compared to outflows of ₹3,532 crore in the previous month.
Multi-asset allocation funds, which invest in a mix of debt, equity and gold, saw inflows of ₹3,797 crore. Balanced advantage funds saw inflows of ₹1,371 crore and equity savings funds saw inflows of ₹1,748 crore.
Gold exchange-traded funds saw inflows of ₹1,962 crore in October as many investors bought digital gold on the auspicious occasion of Dhanteras.