MF exposure to IT stocks drops to Rs 34,000 crore in December

Mutual fund (MF) managers slashed their exposure in software stocks to nearly Rs 34,000 crore in December, after raising it for six consecutive months.

According to data available with market regulator Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), the funds' investment in software or IT stocks stood at Rs 33,970 crore as on December 31, 2014, accounting for 10.20 per cent of their total equity assets under management (AUM) of Rs 3.3 lakh crore.

In comparison, the MF industry's exposure to software sector had reached an all-time high of Rs 34,674 crore in November this year.

Mutual fund is an investment vehicle that is made up of a pool of funds collected from many investors for the purpose of investing in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and similar assets.

The fund managers have been continuously raising their exposure in software or IT (information technology) stocks since May amid an overall bullishness in the equity markets.

In May, fund managers had infused Rs 22,986 crore in software stocks, which further grew to Rs 34,674 crore in November but they dropped their investment in December to Rs 33,970 crore.

Market participants attributed the current decline to profit-booking.

However, MF managers raised their exposure in bank stocks to a record high of nearly Rs 73,000 crore in December 2014, which is the highest among all the sectors.

Among others, MFs have an exposure of Rs 23,412 crore in pharma, auto (Rs 20,959 crore) and finance (Rs 19,819 crore).