Equity MFs hit; debt funds breathe easy

The uncertainty in the markets continued to take its toll on equity mutual funds in July too. Equity schemes registered a net outflow of Rs 209 crore (Rs 2.09 billion) as against net outflow of Rs 1,288 crore (Rs 12.88 billion) in June 2006.

However, good times rolled in for debt and money market schemes after the 25-basis-point hike in repo and reverse repo rates by the Reserve Bank of India on July 25.

Liquid funds witnessed inflows of Rs 15,517 crore (Rs 155.17 billion) after massive redemption in June by corporates for meeting advance tax payment commitments. Debt schemes too saw a net inflow of Rs 5,114 crore (Rs 51.14 billion) as against net outflow of Rs 2,110 crore (Rs 21.10 billion) in the previous month.

However, gilt schemes continued to lose sheen with investors, as they were the only category to register a higher net outflow of Rs 261 crore (Rs 2.61 billion) as compared to Rs 215 crore (Rs 2.15 billion) in June.

The mutual fund industry witnessed a net inflow of Rs 20,302 crore (Rs 203.02 billion) as against a net outflow of Rs 4,603 crore (Rs 46.03 billion) in June, reveals the AMFI figures released on Thursday.

In equity funds, of the total sales of Rs 2,436 crore (Rs 24.36 billion) registered by equity funds, Rs 1,045 crore (Rs 10.45 billion) was contributed by the two equity NFOs -- JM Arbitrage Advantage Fund and Tata Equity Management Fund, leaving the actual sales from existing schemes at Rs 1,391 crore (Rs 13.91 billion).

In the debt category, of the total sales of Rs 9,891 crore (Rs 98.91 billion), Rs 3,718 crore (Rs 37.18 billion) was collected from 18 close-ended debt NFOs, while Rs 6,173 crore (Rs 61.73 billion) was collected from existing debt schemes in July.

ELSS -- Equity-Linked Saving Schemes -- continued to see money flowing into its kitty with a net inflow of Rs 86 crore (Rs 860 million) as against Rs 89 crore (Rs 890 million) witnessed in June.

Meanwhile, the assets under management, AUM, of equity schemes rose slightly by 1.1% to Rs 88,198 crore (Rs 881.98 billion) as against Rs 87,196 crore (Rs 871.96 billion)

AUM of ELSS schemes rose by 2.2% to Rs 6,051 crore (Rs 60.51 billion) from Rs 5,922 crore (Rs 59.22 billion). Gilt scheme registered a drop in AUM to Rs 2,323 crore (Rs 23.23 billion) from Rs 2,566 crore (Rs 25.66 billion).

Total assets managed by the mutual fund industry soared by Rs 21,625 crore (Rs 216.25 billion) or 7.5% to Rs 287,159 crore (Rs 2,871.59 billion) in July, as against Rs 265,534 crore (Rs 2,655.34 billion) in June.

Standard Chartered, Kotak, and LIC MF saw assets surging by Rs 2,300 crore (Rs 23 billion) -- Rs 3,900 crore (Rs 39 billion). Principal, HDFC, Prudential ICICI, Birla, Templeton, Tata, Deutsche, and ING Vysya MF saw asset inflows between Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion) to Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion), while DSP ML, Reliance, Chola, Sahara, and Escorts witnessed asset erosion.

However, all the top five fund houses retained their respective positions in terms of their AUMs, with Prudential ICICI leading at the first position, followed by UTI, Reliance, HDFC and Franklin Templeton MF.

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