Long-term investors, however, remain firmly on track, resulting in record monthly inflows through systematic investment plans (SIPs). In August, the inflow through this route increased to Rs 9,923 crore – from Rs 9,608 crore in July. This is the second consecutive month of net inflow of over Rs 9,000 crore through the SIP route, shows industry trade body AMFI data.
Overall industry data also showed an upward trend with net assets at Rs 36.6 lakh crore at the end of last month as against Rs 35.3 lakh crore at the end of July. Net inflows into equity funds during August stood at Rs 8,667 crore, much lower than the July figure of Rs 22,583 crore. In comparison, hybrid funds continued to see strong inflows of Rs 18,706 crore in August after an inflow of Rs 19,481 crore in July, data from AMFI showed.
In the hybrid category, boosted by the new fund offer (NFO) for ‘Balanced Advantage Fund’ of SBI MF, net inflows rose to Rs 16,571 crore.
The fund management subsidiary of India’s largest bank SBI had raked in over Rs 14,500 crore in that fund, which is the highest NFO collection by any single scheme in India. After the closure of the NFO, SBI MF executives had told TOI that since the markets were at higher levels, a large number of investors shifted from pure equity schemes to its hybrid scheme.
White Oak Capital CEO Ashish Somaiya also indicated similar investor behavior. According to him, there is a significant reduction in net inflows to the Equity category and a similar jump in net inflows to the Balanced Profit category.
“This leads to the belief that, at the aggregate industry level, large balanced profit NFOs have gained a lot of traction through the switch from equities to the balanced profit category. From the point of view of retail investors, in the short term, this may not be a bad growth. Because the market levels are high and generally balanced leverage funds have low risk perception,” Somaiya said.
.