Equity mutual fund inflows drop 68% in April; lowest in four months

According to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India the net investments in equity and equity-linked schemes have declined more than 68% month on month to ₹ 6,480.3 crore. This is the lowest inflows recorded in four months.

The drop in mutual fund investment is despite the rise in benchmark indices. The S&P BSE sensex rose 3.6% while the NSE Nifty rose 4.06% in April.

However, investments in small and mid cap funds continued in April, registering inflows for 26 months in a row. The small cap funds saw an inflow of ₹ 2,182.44 crore, followed by mid-cap that recorded an inflow of ₹ 1,790.98 crore. Meanwhile, the large cap funds received the lowest inflow of ₹ 52.63 crore.

All equity fund categories received inflows except for focused funds in April. The funds witnessed an outflow of ₹ 130.91 crore in April 2023.

Meanwhile, the liquid funds registered inflows in April after 4 months of consecutive outflows. The money market fund saw an inflow of ₹ 13,960.96 crore in April. In March the fund registered an outflow of ₹ 11,421.7 crore.

SIP inflows stood at ₹ 13,727.63 crore in April. In March the SIP inflow was at ₹ 14,276.06 crore. The number of SIP accounts as of 30th April went up to 6.42 crore compared to 6.36 crore as of March 31.

"I am quite confident that we will regain the Rs 14,000 crore number in May," AMFI Chief Executive Officer NS Venkatesh said in a press conference call. The SIP numbers are showing a "promising and upward" trend for the new financial year, he added.