Equity MF investments drop 14 pc to Rs 33 000 cr on market volatility

Mumbai, Nov 11 (PTI) Equity mutual fund investments witnessed a nearly 14 per cent fall to Rs 32,994 crore in October as compared with September's Rs 38,306 crore inflow, industry body Amfi said on Wednesday.

     This is the 60th consecutive month of net inflows into the equity category.

     The overall assets under management across equity schemes stood at Rs 37.14 lakh crore as on October 31, it said, adding that the fall in the numbers was due to market correction.

     Equity inflows had jumped by over 31 per cent in September as compared to August despite market volatility.

     October also saw a marginal decline in the amount of money flowing in from the retail investors' favourite Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) to Rs 32,160 crore from September's Rs 32,490 crore.

     The number of contributing SIP accounts declined to 10 crore in October from 10.06 crore in September.

     Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi) chief executive Venkat Chalasani said that the market volatilities may have had an impact on the flows, but added that factors like re-rating of Indian equities by foreign brokerages and decline in oil prices bode well.

     Other factors like strong corporate earnings and high credit growth by banks are also positive from a future perspective as they indicate the strength in underlying economic activity, he said.

     Replying to a question on where the industry body see the SIP flows going ahead, Chalasani said despite volatilities, the investments have surged by 10 per cent in October when compared with the over Rs 29,000 crore in the same period last year.

     Pointing out that foreign institutional investors sold a net of Rs 34,843 crore of Indian equities in October, Chalasani said that a majority of investors are continuing to stay put with their SIPs because of their belief in the long-term potential in the Indian economy.

     Both gold and silver exchange-traded funds saw inflows of over Rs 3,000 crore each during October.

     There were a total of 28 new fund offerings across all categories in October, in which Rs 3,829 crore of funds were garnered, as per AMFI data.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)