Inflows in equity mutual funds hit 5-month low of Rs 5,256 cr in May

Inflows into equity mutual funds dropped to five months low of Rs 5,256 crore in May amid market volatility and uncertain economic environment due to coronavirus pandemic.

Overall, the mutual fund industry witnessed a net inflow of Rs 70,813 crore across all segments, last month data by Association of Mutual Funds in India showed on Friday.

In comparison, an inflow of Rs 45,999 crore was seen in April.

As per the data, inflows into equity and equity-linked open ended schemes was at Rs 5,256 crore, while an outflow of Rs 211 crore was seen from close ended funds.

In April, such schemes attracted a net infusion of Rs 6,213 crore.

Prior to this, equity schemes saw an investment Rs 11,723 crore in March, Rs 10,796 crore in February, Rs 7,877 crore in January and Rs 4,499 crore in December.

"Inflows into equity funds, while lower than previous months continue to remain positive largely driven by SIP inflows. Investors continue to prefer Large & Multi cap funds given the market volatility and uncertain economic environment due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said Kaustubh Belapurkar, Director at Manager Research, Morningstar India.

Almost all the equity-oriented mutual fund categories registered net inflows last month.

Large-cap, multi-cap, ELSS (equity linked saving schemes), and large cap & mid-cap saw inflows of Rs 1,556 crore, Rs 758 crore and Rs 737 crore and Rs 712 crore respectively during the month under review.

In addition, mutual funds focussed on investing in fixed-income securities saw a net inflow of Rs 63,665 crore last month as compared to Rs 43,431 crore in April.

Among fixed-income securities, overnight funds and credit risk funds witnessed a pull out of Rs 15,881 crore and Rs 5,173 crore, respectively.

Besides, gold ETFs too saw an inflow of Rs 815 crore last month, higher than Rs 731 crore witnessed in April.

The assets under management of the 44-players mutual fund industry stood at Rs 24.55 lakh crore in May-end from Rs 23.93 lakh crore in April-end.