Equity MF inflow drops 14% to Rs 25,082 crore in March

New Delhi: Inflow of equity mutual funds (MFs) dropped 14 per cent to Rs 25,082 crore in March amid continued market volatility.

This was the third consecutive month of decline in inflow in equity funds. The latest fund infusion by investors also marks the 49th consecutive month of net inflows into the segment.

According to data released by Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) on Friday, equity-oriented MFs saw an inflow of Rs 25,082 crore in March, way lower than Rs 29,303 crore in February, Rs 39,688 crore in January, and Rs 41,156 crore in December.

Within the equity fund categories, flexi cap funds recorded the highest inflows in March, attracting Rs 5,165 crore. However, sectoral/thematic funds, which saw a robust inflow of Rs 5,711 crore in February, experienced a sharp drop, drawing in just Rs 735 crore in March.

This significant decline indicates a shift in investor sentiment, with interest moving away from niche sectoral bets towards more diversified and flexible investment strategies.

In March, mid-cap and small-cap mutual funds continued to attract significant investor interest, with inflows of Rs 3,439 crore and Rs 4,092 crore, respectively.

These figures marked a slight increase from February's inflows of Rs 3,406 crore for mid-caps and Rs 3,722 crore for small-caps. In contrast, large-cap funds witnessed a decline in inflows, receiving Rs 2,479 crore in March compared to Rs 2,866 crore in February.

On the other hand, gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) saw an outflow of Rs 77 crore last month after witnessing a fund infusion of Rs 1,980 crore by investors in February.

Besides, debt funds registered an outflow of Rs 2.02 lakh crore in March as compared to Rs 6,525 crore in February.

Overall, mutual funds experienced an outflow of Rs 1.64 lakh crore during the month under review as compared to an inflow of Rs 40,000 crore in February.

Despite the outflow, assets under management of the industry slightly increased to Rs 65.7 lakh crore in March-end from Rs 64.53 lakh crore in the preceding month.