Money is pouring in for equity mutual fund schemes, with the market reaching new highs. Inflows into equity schemes increased to ₹19,508 crore in the June quarter, as against ₹4,672 crore in the March quarter.
Interestingly, smaller mutual funds such as PGIM India and PPFAS reported a 48 per cent and 33 per cent increase in average equity assets in the June quarter to ₹3,218 crore and ₹9,964 crore, respectively, while those of Canara Rebaco and Edelweiss was increased. 23 per cent and 12 per cent are ₹19,850 crore and ₹4,535 crore respectively. Equity assets of Invesco and Mirae Asset also stood at ₹18,563 crore (11 per cent) and ₹63,908 crore (12 per cent).
Among large fund houses, Axis Mutual Fund and HDFC MF topped the table with equity assets of ₹1.06-lakh crore (up 9 per cent) and ₹1.04 lakh crore (5 per cent) respectively, while ICICI MF and SBI MF grabbed have taken. Third and four slots with ₹1.02 lakh crore (7 percent) and ₹1.01 lakh crore (8 percent), according to an analysis by Fortune Planners Investment, an independent financial services provider.
Overall, equity assets grew 7 per cent to ₹10.35-lakh crore in the June quarter, from ₹9.68-lakh crore in the March quarter.
to stay strong
Mahesh Patil, chief investment officer, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, said investing in equity funds will remain strong as other alternative avenues of investment have disappointed investors in the past few months.
In fact, retail investment is acting as a counter-balance to the booking of profits of foreign investors, he said.
Some retail investors are booking profits from their direct equity market investments and parking funds in MFs. Realizing this, fund houses have made 50 fresh fund offers in the last six months, raising Rs 35,500 crore as against the entire 68 NFOs last year, which raised Rs 40,450 crore.
Sameer Kaul, MD & CEO, TrustPlutus Wealth said that despite several initial public offerings, people are investing heavily in mutual fund NFOs, which are also aggressively marketed by banks and wealth managers.