Outflows in equity mutual funds continue for 3rd month; Rs 734 crore withdrawn in September

A choppy September saw net outflows of Rs 734 crore from equity mutual fund schemes, according to data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India. This comes after massive outflows of Rs 4,000 crore and Rs 2,480 crore recorded in August and July this year.

Among open ended equity schemes, the multi cap category emerged as the biggest loser with net outflow of Rs 1,143.9 crore. Some other categories that saw net outflows during the month were large cap (Rs 576 crore), mid cap (Rs 68 crore), value funds (Rs 488.6 crore) and ELSSs (Rs 38.9 crore). Conversely, large cap & mid cap and small cap funds saw a trend reversal -- net inflows of Rs 621.5 crore and Rs 133 crore, respectively, during the month. "Gross sales have increased in large & mid cap, focused and small - mid cap categories. Suggested changes by regulator in the multi cap fund (i.e. min 25 per cent exposure to large, mid and small cap, respectively) has possibly led to some opportunistic buying in small and midcap funds," said Akhil Chaturvedi-Associate Director and Head of Sales and Distribution, Motilal Oswal Asset Management Company.

The asset under management (AUM) of equity-oriented schemes remained flat at Rs 7.67 lakh crore compared to Rs 7.66 lakh crore in the month of August.

In September, markets wobbled on weak global cues leading to the benchmark index Sensex losing a little over 1 per cent. However, both the mid- and small-cap segments outperformed posting 0.4 per cent and 3.83 per cent gains during the month.

Overall, the industry witnessed net outflows for the second consecutive month -- Rs 52,091 crore in September compared to an outflow of Rs 14,553 crore in August. Liquid funds and overnight funds contributed the most with total outflows of a little over Rs 26,000 crore. The AUM of the mutual fund industry dropped marginally from Rs 27.78 lakh crore to Rs 27.74 lakh crore over the last two months.

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