Liquid Funds Drive Rs 40,685-Crore Outflow From Mutual Funds

Mutual funds industry recorded an outflow in December even as equity fund inflows rose on investments into small- and multi-cap schemes.

Net investments into actively managed equity schemes rose 9.4% over the previous month to Rs 16,997 crore during the month under review, according to data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India released Monday.

However, heavy outflows in liquid schemes in December, as expected at the end of the quarter, had an impact on the overall mutual fund flows. 

Small-cap funds logged inflows of Rs 3,857.5 crore in December, up from Rs 3,699.2 crore in November. The segment saw Rs 1,226 crore being mobilised through NFO for Motilal Oswal Small Cap Fund.

Large-cap schemes recorded an outflow of Rs 280.9 crore against inflows of Rs 306.7 crore in the prior month.

Mid-cap schemes received Rs 1,393.05 crore inflows, compared with Rs 2,665.7 crore in November. Multi-cap funds logged inflows of Rs 1,851.87 crore, against Rs 1,713.1 crore.

Equity segment had six NFOs raise Rs 6,321 crore during December, AMFI data showed.

SIP contribution to mutual funds industry stood at Rs 17,610 crore in December compared with Rs 17,073 crore in November.

Assets under management for SIPs rose to Rs 9.96 lakh crore against Rs Rs 9.31 lakh crore in the previous month.

Liquid funds — debt schemes that businesses use to store short-term cash — saw outflows surged to Rs 39,675.3 crore, compared with outflows of Rs 644.7 crore in the previous month. This category usually sees an outflow at the end of a quarter because of advance tax payouts.

Credit-risk funds saw Rs 367.5 crore moving out of the category. These schemes recorded outflows of Rs 253.7 crore in November.

Money market funds saw outflows of Rs 8,383.6 crore in December, against inflows Rs 865.3 crore in November.

The debt-oriented funds witnessed outflows of Rs 75,559.9 crore in December against outflows of Rs 4,706.75 crore in the previous month.

Overall, on account of liquid fund outflows, mutual funds across debt and equity logged a cumulative net outflow of Rs 40,684.9 crore in December, compared with an inflow of Rs 25,615.7 crore in November.

The number of folios increased to 16.49 crore during the month under review, against 16.18 crore in November.