Equity mutual fund cash levels drop 20 bps to 2.63% in January; total fund house cash jumps Rs 1.49 lakh crore

At the fund house level, aggregate cash holdings increased by about Rs 1.48 lakh crore in January to Rs 4.78 lakh crore.

• Equity scheme cash holdings fell to Rs 1.35 lakh crore in January
• Motilal Oswal, ICICI, and PPFAS led cash reductions in schemes
• Total fund house cash holdings rose to Rs 4.78 lakh crore

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Cash allocations within equity mutual fund schemes declined in January even as total cash holdings at the fund house level rose sharply during the month.

At the equity scheme level, industry-wide cash holdings fell to Rs 1.35 lakh crore in January 2026 from Rs 1.49 lakh crore in December — a decline of Rs 13,705.87 crore. As a percentage of equity assets under management (AUM), cash positions slipped 20 basis points to 2.63% from 2.83% in the previous month.

The reduction was led by Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund, which cut Rs 6,690.33 crore (about Rs 0.07 lakh crore) from equity scheme cash, bringing its cash ratio down to 4.48% from 10.04%. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund reduced scheme-level cash by Rs 3,500.15 crore, while PPFAS Mutual Fund trimmed Rs 3,147.14 crore.

SBI Mutual Fund pared Rs 1,858.97 crore, taking its scheme-level cash ratio to 2.47% from 2.63%. Other notable reductions were seen at Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund, Mirae Asset Mutual Fund, Invesco Mutual Fund, and Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund.

However, the trend was not uniform. Axis Mutual Fund raised equity scheme cash by Rs 3,692.86 crore, pushing its cash ratio up to 6.43% from 4.26%. HSBC Mutual Fund and UTI Mutual Fund also increased allocations, while Samco Mutual Fund saw its cash-to-equity AUM ratio surge to 38.74% from 8.89%.

Total fund house cash rises

At the fund house level, aggregate cash holdings increased by about Rs 1.48 lakh crore in January to Rs 4.78 lakh crore.

SBI Mutual Fund increased total cash holdings by Rs 29,281.77 crore to Rs 83,763.54 crore. Axis Mutual Fund added Rs 15,252.15 crore to Rs 39,556.88 crore, while HDFC Mutual Fund increased Rs 14,658.51 crore to Rs 55,685.50 crore.

Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund raised total cash by Rs 13,874.53 crore to Rs 24,496.34 crore. ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund added Rs 11,833.32 crore to Rs 53,483.47 crore. Bandhan Mutual Fund increased Rs 9,720.07 crore to Rs 15,187.82 crore.

Tata Mutual Fund raised Rs 8,951.95 crore to Rs 14,514.88 crore. UTI Mutual Fund added Rs 8,109.21 crore to Rs 13,966.50 crore. Nippon India Mutual Fund increased Rs 6,808.66 crore to Rs 32,049.35 crore. HSBC Mutual Fund added Rs 4,550.11 crore to Rs 8,429.38 crore.

On the other hand, Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund reduced total cash holdings by Rs 9,467.41 crore to Rs 4,371.96 crore. PPFAS Mutual Fund cut Rs 2,747.42 crore to Rs 7,588.53 crore, while Abakkus Mutual Fund reduced Rs 1,613.98 crore to Rs 441.03 crore.