)
Inflows into equity mutual funds (MFs) remained positive for a seventh straight month in November.
Nearly Rs 5,000 crore of net inflows were witnessed last month, taking the current year investment tally to Rs 43,700 crore. The Rs 11-lakh crore domestic MF sector is on course to record best-ever inflows with only around Rs 4,000 crore needed to top Rs 47,000 crore of flows recorded in 2007-08.
This year has seen the return of the mutual fund investors, said sectoral players. The total number of investor folios also touched the 30 million-mark in November, an increase of nearly one million since March last year, when the folio count had dropped to 29.1 million.
Barring April, all other months of the current financial year have seen positive flows with the monthly average being more than Rs 5,000 crore.
A slew of new fund offers (NFOs) launched by various fund houses seem to have helped in asset mobilisation. A total of 59 NFOs have mopped close to Rs 10,000 crore this year.
“The market has improved and people are willing to put in fresh money. New launches are an easy way to get money in a rising market in India. There will be more such NFOs,” said Niranjan Risbood, director (fund research), Morningstar India.
The total number of equity-related schemes offered by the domestic mutual fund industry stood at 394 with asset under management (AUM) of Rs 3.14 lakh-crore.
