The sectoral/thematic funds have continued to receive highest inflows for months. In April, this category garnered inflows of Rs 5,166.05 crore as against Rs 7,917.72 crore in March. The multicap funds stood second on the inflow chart and received Rs 2,723.87 crore funds. Large & mid cap funds received inflows of Rs 2,638.91 crore. Focused funds witnessed an outflow of Rs 328.04 crore.

The debt mutual funds which witnessed an outflow of Rs 1.98 lakh in March have now managed to receive inflow in April of Rs 1.89 lakh. Among debt categories, all categories witnessed inflows except for medium duration funds, credit risk and banking & PSU funds.

Liquid funds saw highest inflow in April of around Rs 1.02 lakh crore as against an outflow of Rs 1.57 lakh crore in March. The money market funds also received an inflow of Rs 34,084.11 crore.

The inflows in hybrid fund categories dropped by 256% in April to stand at Rs 19,862.94 crore against an inflow of Rs 5,583.62 crore in March. All hybrid categories except for conservative hybrid funds witnessed inflows in March. Arbitrage funds stood first and received the highest inflows of Rs 13,901.25 crore in April. Multi asset allocation funds received inflows of Rs 3,312.56 crore.

Balanced hybrid fund/aggressive hybrid fund witnessed the lowest inflow of Rs 17.09 crore in April against an inflow of Rs 535.97 crore in March. Conservative hybrid funds saw an outflow of Rs 7.97 crore.

The net inflows in the ‘others’ category which includes Index Funds and ETFs decreased by around 10% in April and stood at Rs 11,504.97 crore against an inflow of Rs 12,792.75 crore in March. Index funds and ETFs received inflows whereas Gold ETF and fund of funds investing overseas witnessed outflow in April. Index funds were investors' favourites as the category received the highest inflows of Rs 6,524.06 crore in April against an inflow of Rs 1,822.41 crore in March.

Other ETFs received a total inflow of Rs 5,746.99 crore. Gold ETF and FoF (investing overseas) saw an outflow of Rs 395.69 crore and Rs 370.40 crore respectively.

Data showed that 9 open-ended NFOs were floated in April, which together mobilised Rs 1,532 crore.

Total AUM Rises 7%

Assets managed by the Indian mutual fund industry have increased from Rs. 41.53 trillion in April 2023 to Rs. 57.01 trillion in April 2024. That represents 37.29% increase in assets over April 2024. The proportionate share of equity-oriented schemes is now 58.1% of the industry assets in April 2024,up from 50.9% in April 2023.

The proportionate share of debt-oriented schemes is 15.9% of industry assets in April 2024, down from 20.5% in April 2023. Decrease was noted in ETF market share from 13.0% in April 2023 to 12.8% in April 2024.

Individual investors now hold a relatively higher share of industry assets, i.e. 60.5% in April 2024, compared with 57.6% in April 2023 Institutional investors account for 39.5% of the assets, of which corporates are 95%. The rest are Indian and foreign institutions and banks. Equity-oriented schemes derive 88% of their assets from individual investors (Retail + HNI) Institutional investors dominate liquid and money market schemes (88%), debt- oriented schemes (61%) and ETFs, FOFs (90%).

In Apr 23- Equity-oriented schemes derived 89% of their assets from individual investors . Institutional investors dominated liquid and money market schemes (89%), debt-oriented schemes (57%) and ETFs, FOFs (89%).

Individual investors primarily hold equity-oriented schemes. A total of 85 % of individual investor assets are held in equity-oriented schemes while 53% of institutions assets are held in liquid / money market schemes and debt-oriented schemes.

The value of assets held by individual investors in mutual funds increased from Rs.23.92 lac cr in April 2023 to Rs. 34.52 lac cr in April 2024, an increase of 44.27%. The value of Institutional assets has increased from Rs.17.60 lac cr in April 2023 to Rs.22.50 lac cr in April 2024 an increase of 27.81%.

Outlook:

The domestic market regulators continue to focus on ease of investing. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has done away with the requirement of linking permanent account number (PAN) with Aadhaar to get "KYC-registered" status for MF transactions. In a revised circular issued on May 14, the capital markets regulator has done away with the requirement of checking PAN and Aadhaar link. In October, SEBI had asked all mutual fund investors to re-do their KYC by March 31 if it had not been done based on an "officially valid document (OVD)" such as Aadhaar, passport or a voter ID card.