Mutual Fund's Equity inflows: Investor
sentiment hit due to choppy market; SIPs still a bright spot..
Investor inflows into equity mutual funds (MFs)
are showing signs of moderation after touching their lifetime highs last year
(2016).
Equity-oriented MFs have attracted inflows of Rs.
44,772 crore, roughly half of Rs 90,603 crore received last year.
Industry players say frequent bouts of correction
and lacklustre returns this year have impacted investor sentiment towards the
equity market. They add a lot of investors are preferring debt schemes due to
low-risk attractive returns.
Mr. G. Pradeepkumar, Chief Executive Officer,
Union KBC Mutual Fund, says, “Markets had turned quite volatile and there has
been an increase in redemptions. Further, lump-sum investments seen in 2014 and
2015 have taken a back seat. The bulk of the inflows has come through
systematic investment plan (SIP) route. High net-worth individuals (HNIs), too,
have turned wary towards equities.”
What is worth noting is that gross sales remained
strong in equity funds. However, higher redemptions dented the net inflows
numbers.
Debt funds, on the other hand, on the back of
robust performance attracted investors' attention. Against the return of 7 TO
11% in broader equity category of funds, debt funds have given returns between
8% and 16%.
Mr. Nimesh Shah, Managing Director and CEO, ICICI
Prudential Mutual Fund, says: “There are trends which suggest that bond funds
are seeing good sales.”
Despite the fact that inflows in pure equity
schemes have nearly got halved, fund managers say the current flow of money is
also commendable – higher than the long-term average flows.
Mr. Navneet Munot, Chief Investment Officer, SBI Mutual Fund, says, “One needs to look at inflows since mid-2014. In a
matter of two-and-a-half-years, industry has got nearly Rs. 2 lakh crore of
flows in equity, which is quite robust given the long years of outflows prior
to that.”
The pure equity & equity-linked savings
scheme fund inflows might have taken a hit, but balanced funds are increasingly
witnessing a rise in inflows. On an average, 65% to 70% of the balanced fund
portfolios is in equity. Further, inflows in arbitrage funds, too, have played
a role.
Although the calendar year figures of flows in
all equity schemes (excluding arbitrage funds) could not be immediately made
available, the fiscal numbers suggest that in FY16, total inflows in equity
(ex-arbitrage) were Rs. 85,000 crore while in the current financial year till
November, it is about Rs. 48,000 crore. This indicates investors' preference
for pure diversified schemes appears to have slowed down.
There are about 400 equity schemes offered by the
mutual fund sector, which collectively manages an asset size of Rs, 4.68 lakh
crore as on November 30, 2016.
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