Debt MFs log outflow for 2nd consecutive month on liquid funds withdrawal

Debt-oriented mutual fund schemes witnessed a net outflow of over Rs 51,900 crore in September, making it the second consecutive monthly withdrawal, largely on the back of a massive pullout from liquid category.

Morningstar India Associate Director - Manager Research Himanshu Srivastava said investors are focusing on fixed income categories having relatively shorter duration profile, such as low duration and short duration funds, given the current interest rate scenario.

In addition, they are preferring funds with pristine credit quality, especially from banking & PSU category, he said.

According to the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi), mutual funds (MFs) that invest in fixed-income securities or debt funds saw an outflow of Rs 51,962 crore last month as compared to Rs 3,907 crore in August.

Prior to that, debt funds had seen an inflow of Rs 91,392 crore in July, Rs 2,862 crore in June, Rs 63,665 crore inMay and Rs 43,431 crore in April.

"With September being the quarter-end month, debt-oriented schemes expectedly witnessed significant net outflows," Srivastava said.

Groww co-founder and COO Harsh Jain said the outflow is expected at the end of every quarter as corporates take out money from liquid funds to pay tax.

Liquid funds witnessed net outflows to the tune of Rs 65,952 crore, which is where corporate companies tend to park money, followed by ultra short duration funds (Rs 4,867 crore) and money market funds ( Rs 4,857 crore).

Further, investors continue to tread a line of caution by staying away from riskier investments, given the credit crisis in the March-April period, which adversely impacted fixed income markets. Hence, credit category continues to witness outflows, although the pace has slowed down significantly, Srivastava said.

Credit risk funds saw an outflow of Rs 539 crore in September compared to Rs 554 crore in August, Rs 670 crore in July, Rs 1,494 crore in June, Rs 5,173 crore in May and Rs 19,239 crore in April.

Gilt funds, which attracted investor interest in the recent times given their sovereign status and zero exposure to credit risk, experienced net outflow of Rs 483 crore in September, which was lower than the net outflow of Rs 1,122 core in August.

The performance of the category this year so far has been good which would have prompted investors to book profits.

However, funds with pristine credit quality, especially from categories such as banking and PSU and corporate bond continue to gain traction from investors highlighting their preference for safety in this segment.

In fact, banking & PSU fund was the biggest beneficiary during the month with a net inflow of Rs 6,416crore.

In addition, short duration and low duration funds saw inflow of Rs 3,853 crore and Rs 1,818 crore, respectively.

The assets under management of debt mutual funds dropped to Rs 12.14 lakh crore at the end of September from Rs 12.61 lakh crore at August-end.