Mutual fund AUMs grow 9% in April after two months of decline

The Assets Under Management (AUM) of the mutual fund industry increased 8.9% to Rs 23.25 lakh crore in April 2018 from Rs 21.36 lakh crore in March 2019. The increase has come after the industry saw month-on-month declines in February and March 2018, according to a press release issued by rating agency, ICRA, quoting data published by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). On a yearly basis, the AUM grew 20.7% from Rs 19.26 lakh crore in April 2017.

From April 2018, AMFI has begun reporting Arbitrage Funds as a separate category in their monthly report. The AUM under Equity (including Equity Linked Savings Schemes or ELSS and Arbitrage Funds), Balanced, and other ETFs for April 2018 came in at Rs 10.59 lakh crore, up 6.5% month-on-month and 49.6% year-on-year. AUM for Arbitrage Funds came in at Rs 56,000 crore in April 2018.

The total net inflow in in April 2018 was Rs 137,428 crore, as against a total net outflow of Rs 50,752 crore in March 2018. As expected, Liquid/Money Market funds witnessed the highest inflow of Rs 116,486 crore during the month, following net outflow of Rs 54,979 crore in March 2018.

In April 2018, Equity funds (including ELSS and Arbitrage Funds) witnessed monthly net inflow of Rs 12,409 crore, up 86.4% from Rs 6,657 crore in March 2018. March 2018 had seen equity outflows mainly because of volatile equity markets and implementation of the long-term capital gains tax (LTCG). Inflows in April 2018 suggest that investors have overcome their fears and the industry could witness higher numbers moving forward, the press release said.