Small and mid-cap mutual fund inflows touch record highs

PTI Mumbai

Inflows into mutual funds' equity schemes increased by over 14 per cent on-month to Rs 41,156 crore in December, even as market volatilities continued.

The small and midcap schemes of mutual funds continued to attract investor interest with inflows touching record highs during the month, despite concerns being expressed about the two segments for the risk they portend, industry body Amfi said.

Inflows into systematic investment plans came at Rs 26,459 crore, up from November's Rs 25,320 crore. The SIP assets under management stood at Rs 13.63 lakh crore, which is around a fifth of the overall.

The overall assets under management of mutual funds came at Rs 66.93 lakh crore as on December 31, 2024, which was down from Rs 68.08 lakh crore in the month-ago period.

Venkat Chalasani, chief executive of the Association of Mutual Funds of India (Amfi), attributed the decline to mark-to-market losses on corrections as well as outflows of Rs 1.27 lakh crore in debt schemes, which is in line with previous experience of a pull out at the end of a quarter.

Responding to a question on the continued interest in equity funds and what to expect in the future, Chalasani acknowledged that there are uncertainties which may influence the market, like the change in the US administration with Donald Trump as the President in January, but added that Indian investors continued to repose faith in the equity market.

Pointing to continued interest in SIPs, Chalasani said these inflows illustrate the optimism of investors in Indian markets for long term.