After witnessing outflows for months, the collection trends have reversed for the equity fund schemes.
The data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) showed positive net inflows of Rs 1,514 crore into the equity schemes of the mutual fund industry in February. This is the highest monthly inflow witnessed ever since entry load was banned by the market regulator (from August 1, 2009). A month earlier, equity schemes had seen positive inflows of Rs 980 crore. Before that, for the period August-December ?09, there has been sustaining redemption in equity schemes.
?The sentiment of the equity markets is positive,? said Kanwar Vivek, CEO of Aditya Birla Money Mart. However, he adds that inflows into the equity schemes are not that encouraging. ?The redemption pressure is less compared to five months earlier, but still equity schemes are not attracting more investors.?
In fact, the amount collected in the entire month of February is what an usual single equity NFO (New fund offering) amassed during the boom times. ?We usually witness some positive inflows in February and March every year,? said Achal Kumar Gupta, MD of SBI Mutual Fund, hinting at inflows into tax saving equity schemes.
During February, apart from equity schemes, income, balanced, ELSS and ETFs also saw positive inflows, while liquid schemes and money market schemes witnessed outflows. Approximately, inflows of Rs 6,300 crore were seen in all the schemes with highest coming into income schemes, at over Rs 4,800 crore. From the April 2009 to February of this year, income schemes have seen maximum inflows of Rs 2.61 lakh crore.