Equity fund inflows grow 23% to Rs 26,866 cr in February: AMFI

The investments through systematic investment plans (SIPs) reached a new peak of Rs 19,186 crore last month, surpassing the previous figure of Rs 18,838 crore in January.

Speaking on monthly data, Venkat Chalasani, Chief Executive, AMFI said, “There is a surge in SIP accounts, totalling 8.20 crore with 49.79 lakh new SIP registrations. This underscores investors' unwavering commitment to disciplined wealth accumulation. The industry's net AUM has also reached Rs 54,54,214.13 crore in February."

In general, the net inflows into open-ended mutual fund schemes decreased from Rs 1.23 trillion in January to Rs 1.19 trillion in February.

In the month of February, small cap and mid cap funds continued to attract significant inflows despite concerns raised by SEBI regarding frothiness in these segments.

Inflows into midcap funds decreased by 12% but remained strong at Rs 1,808 crore, while small cap funds saw a 10% dip in net investments, yet still amounted to Rs 2,922 crore.

SEBI instructed mutual funds to assess the liquidity and volatility of small-cap and midcap fund portfolios compared to their benchmarks.

Sectoral/Thematic Funds witnessed the highest inflows of Rs 11,262.70 crore, boosted by the launch of five new schemes during the month, cumulatively garnering Rs 7,178 crore during their NFO period.

In February 2024, the large cap funds witnessed third-highest inflows in 20 months, amounting to Rs 921 crore. Despite these positive net inflows, it also witnessed the second-highest level of gross redemptions among equity categories during the same period.

In February, the fixed income segment saw net inflows of Rs 63,809 crore into debt funds, down from Rs 76,469 crore in January.

Positive inflows in debt funds were primarily driven by investments of Rs 83,642 crore into the short-term Liquid Fund category, along with Rs 3,029 crore inflows into the Corporate Bond Category.

Conversely, Low Duration Funds experienced outflows of Rs 4,100 crore, followed by Rs 3,610 crore outflows from Floater Funds in February.

"The Reserve Bank of India had maintained the status quo on its benchmark rate at 6.5 percent during its Monetary Policy Committee meeting in February and we expect it to maintain the status quo on rates for the next one or two quarters. This will lead to some softness in yields in the near term. However, the investors will remain a little cautious ahead of the election months and will also closely watch the global interest rates," said Ashwini Kumar, Head Market Data, ICRA Analytics.

The net flows in Gold ETFs surged significantly to Rs 997 crore in February, up from Rs 657 crore in the previous month, marking the fourth-highest inflows in a month.