MF equity inflows dip to 25-month low

Mumbai: Total asset under management of the mutual fund industry dipped by Rs 20,715 crore in February to Rs 23.16 lakh crore on the back of outflows from the debt funds, data released by thje Association of Mutual Funds in India showed.

Inflows in the equity mutual funds dipped to a 25 month low. The equity funds including equity linked savings schemes or ELSS saw lower inflows by almost Rs 1,000 crore in February at Rs 5,122 crore as against Rs 6,158 crore in January.

The equity funds saw inflow of Rs 3948 crore as against Rs 4,914 crore in the previous month of January while ELSS saw a tad lower inflow of Rs 1,174 crore as against Rs 1,244 crore in the previous month.

Commenting on February month equity inflow data Crisil Research said, "Marking the 35th consecutive month of inflows into the category, equity funds witnessed inflows of Rs 46.40 billion in February. The inflows in equity funds have, however, been sporadic in recent months due to volatility in the underlying market. The previous two months reported inflows of Rs 50.82 billion and Rs 44.42 billion, respectively - a far cry from over Rs 100 billion of average monthly inflows in the previous 32 months. Weak inflows coupled with mark-to-market (MTM) losses led to the category's AUM declining by Rs 9.65 billion, or 0.12 per cent, to Rs 8.29 trillion."

The Nifty 50 and Nifty 500, representing the underlying equity assets, lost 0.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, in February.

Outflows in balanced funds continued in February at Rs 1077 crore as against Rs 952 crore in January.