According to data issued by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) on January 9, inflows into open-ended equity mutual funds increased 14.5% over the previous month to Rs 41,155.91 crore in December, driven by increased investments in small-cap and thematic/sectoral funds.
In December, the monthly inflows through the systematic investment plan (SIP) surpassed the Rs 26,000 crore mark for the first time. November’s SIP contribution was Rs 25,320 crore, while this month’s contribution was Rs 26,459 crore.
Open-ended equities fund inflows continued to remain positive for the 46th consecutive month. The increase in equity fund inflows coincided with the month’s mild market performance. In December, the Sensex and the Nifty had declines of 2.08% and 2.02%, respectively.
Month-over-month (MoM) inflows into the Sectoral/Thematic Funds category of the equities segment doubled to Rs 15,331.54 crore in December. The collections made by new fund offerings (NFOs) during the month were the main cause of the increased inflows. In December, 12 NFOs collected Rs 11,337 crore in total.
ICICI Prudential Equity Minimum Variance Fund, SBI Quant Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life Conglomerate Fund, Axis Momentum Fund, Bajaj Finserv Healthcare Fund, and Bank of India Consumption Fund were the month’s top NFOs.
Furthermore, net inflows into the Small Cap Fund category increased to Rs 4,667.70 crore, a 13.5 percent increase. Notably, inflows decreased into the Large Cap, Multi Cap, and Large & Mid Cap fund categories.
Debt saw net outflows of Rs 1,27,152.63 crore in the fixed-income market. At Rs 4,369.78 crore, net inflows for the hybrid fund category—which invests in multiple asset classes under a single fund—remained steady and increased by 6% from November 2024.
During this time, the net assets under management of the Indian mutual fund industry were Rs 66.93 lakh crore, compared to Rs 68.08 lakh crore. Interestingly, even though markets were poor in October, equities fund inflows reached a new high of Rs 41,887 crore.
