The continued MF buying has pushed the equity holding of MFs to over Rs 50 trillion for the first time.
'Long-term investors seeking sustainable gains from resilient, fundamentally strong companies may go for these funds.'
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Equity mutual fund (MF) schemes were flush with cash at the start of this month, even as fresh investments shrank in February. As of February 28, equity schemes from the top 20 fund houses held 6.8 per cent of their portfolios in cash, up from 6.1 per cent in January and 5.9 per cent in December 2024, according to a report by Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
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The top 20 fund houses held 6.8 per cent of their portfolios in cash as of May 31, down from a record high of 7.2 per cent in April 2025.
Mutual funds are looking to tap into the special opportunities theme ahead of the results of the general election results and the continued uncertainty on the geo-political and interest rate fronts. Two fund houses - WhiteOak Capital and Samco - are set to launch special opportunities funds next week. Kotak MF has also filed papers with the regulator to launch a scheme in the same category.
Retail investors' equity portfolios have significantly underperformed benchmark indices over the past 16 to 18 months.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) is considering a proposal to allow mutual funds (MFs) to charge a fee based on their performance, said Ananta Barua, whole-time member of the markets regulator. He said the proposal is being reviewed by a working group formed to look into cost structures. "One working group has been set up which is going to review... One of the suggestions is that if any scheme or fund is performing well above the benchmark, it (fee) can be linked to its performance.
Largecap equity funds remain suitable for conservative and moderate risk-taking investors seeking relatively stable returns.
Retail investors are moving away from a buy-and-hold approach and towards more informed short-term positioning, recent investment patterns show.
Passive funds have resumed gaining ground in the mutual fund (MF) industry after a slowdown in 2024, with their share of assets under management (AUM) reaching an all-time high in 2025. The surge has been driven largely by robust inflows into gold and silver exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
Passive funds appeal to investors seeking to avoid the risk of underperformance by the fund manager and minimise the need for frequent chopping and changing of funds.
Sectoral funds, focused exclusively on public sector banks (PSBs), have delivered the strongest returns among domestic mutual fund (MF) categories over the past six months. However, active banking funds have significantly lagged because of their heavy tilt towards private lenders.
The improvement in the performance of actively managed mutual fund (MF) schemes is acting as a key tailwind for the nearly Rs 50 trillion industry, Kotak Institutional Equities (KIE) said in a report. The report adds that the two largest listed asset management companies (AMCs) - HDFC and Nippon India - are likely to be the biggest beneficiaries. "The industry has a solid track record of delivering alpha on 10-year returns (70-80 per cent of assets under management (AUM) beat the benchmark), with shorter duration performance also on an upswing.
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Despite strong AUM growth, MFs lag behind other popular investment avenues. MFs received only 6 per cent of total household savings in 2021-2022.
Largecap equities are less volatile than mid- and smallcap stocks, making them suitable for risk-averse investors.
Unperturbed by election uncertainty, investors poured record sums into equity mutual fund (MF) schemes in May, driving India closer to a $5 trillion market capitalisation. The Rs 34,697 crore net inflows into actively managed equity funds last month surpassed the previous high of Rs 28,463 crore recorded in March 2022. In April 2024, equity schemes had garnered nearly Rs 19,000 crore.
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Domestic mutual funds have infused the highest ever -- Rs 4.84 trillion -- this year amid strong inflows via SIPs.
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Mutual funds' equity buying remained elevated for the fifth consecutive month in December, taking the net equity purchase past Rs 1.7 trillion in 2023. The aggressive buying in December indicates that flows into equity funds are likely to have remained unaffected by the sharp run-up in the market last month. Mutual funds (MFs) bought equities worth Rs 23,000 crore last month (until December 28) compared to Rs 18,000 crore in November, shows data from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi).
'Active funds have the ability to manage downside risk.'
Notwithstanding sharp volatility in March, mutual fund (MF) investors didn't fight shy of investing in riskier small-cap-oriented schemes. Inflows into small-cap funds were not just the highest in absolute terms, they were also the maximum as a proportion of assets under management (AUM) among all market capitalisation (m-cap)-oriented categories. Investors funnelled Rs 2,430 crore down small-cap funds - 1.8 per cent of their AUM of Rs 1.33 trillion.
The first private sector MF, Kothari Pioneer was registered in July 1993.
Investors seeking higher returns at relatively higher risk should consider allocation to smallcap equity funds.
'AUM reached an all-time high of Rs 79.9 trillion in October 2025, driven by strong retail participation and record SIP inflows of Rs 29,529 crore from over 94.5 million contributing accounts.'
Investors pumped in more than Rs 37,000 crore (Rs 370 billion) in various mutual fund schemes in May taking the total funds mobilisation during the first two months of the current fiscal to Rs 1.44 lakh crore.
The investors who put their money directly in index-specific stocks scored over those who invested in mutual funds in April, as most fund houses gave returns of 5-6 per cent while the benchmark BSE Sensex rose by about 12 per cent in the month.
For the first time in a decade, inflows into equity mutual funds (MFs) decoupled from the past performance of the equity market, as investors continued to pour money into the market unperturbed by lacklustre returns.
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