Inflows (ex- new fund offers or NFOs) into equity funds continue to rise and came at a record high at ₹20,300 crore in March 2022 compared to ₹17, 800 crore in February 2022. Systematic investment plan (SIP) inflows continue to rise and came in strong at ₹12,300 crore in March.
Net inflows have been higher in the last four months at lower market levels. In the last few years, every sharp market fall has witnessed higher inflows indicating maturity among retail investors, highlighted brokerage house ICICI Securities in a note on the mutual fund (MF) activity for the previous month.
As per the brokerage’s report, GMR Infrastructure Ltd, Coforge, Biocon, Sundaram Finance, Star Health and Allied Insurance Company, GR Infraprojects, Bandhan Bank, Indian Hotels Company, Laurus Labs, Max Healthcare Institute are the top ten midcap stocks that asset management companies (AMCs) bought in the month of March.
Under smallcaps, the fund houses bought stocks that include Gulshan Polyols, HEG, Stove Kraft, TV18 Broadcast, Supreme Petrochem, Intellect Design Arena, Avanti Feeds, Dodla Dairy, Garware Technical Fibres and Granules India during the month under review.
All the equity-oriented schemes received net inflows in March 2022 with the multi-cap fund category being the biggest recipient with net inflows of ₹9,695 crore, followed by large and mid cap funds and large cap funds.
Overall, the mutual fund industry registered a net outflow of ₹69,883 crore in March, as compared to a net infusion of ₹31,533 crore in the preceding month. The outflow pulled down the average assets under management (AUM) of the industry to ₹37.7 lakh crore at the end of March, from ₹38.56 lakh crore at February-end.
Read More: Midcap, smallcap stocks that top mutual funds bet on in March