Mutual fund assets touch Rs 68.08 lakh crore in November; here are the key highlights

Equity mutual funds saw growth despite a month-on-month decline. For the month of November, equity schemes recorded inflows of Rs 35,943 crore, down 14 percent from the previous month. Within equity, sectoral and thematic funds saw inflows of Rs 7,658 crore, while flexi-cap funds attracted Rs 5,084 crore. “Flows into equity-oriented schemes continue to grow consistently above Rs 35,000 crore, even amid volatile markets,” said Venkat Chalasani, Chief Executive, AMFI.

Himanshu Srivastava, Associate Director, Manager Research at Morningstar believes that the decline could be because of a couple of varied reasons – from positivity post elections to global tensions in November and market corrections.

“November had weak GDP numbers, high inflation, and uncertainty around RBI's interest rate policies, as India hadn’t begun rate cuts despite the US doing so. Corporate results were also poor, prompting investors to wait and watch. Despite this, Rs 35,000-Rs 36,000 crores in equity flows is still strong, though lower than October… The festival season in November may have also affected investments. Investors continue to show strong interest in equity funds, and the outlook remains positive,” said Srivastava.

Slowdown in Thematics?

While the number of NFO launches has decreased over the last few months, experts are of the view that thematic funds continue to attract investors though they could be adopting a cautious approach.

“It implies that investors are sort of on a wait-and-watch mode, looking for more cues or certainty. Or maybe, over the last few years, they’ve invested so much that they might not have additional funds right now. If they want to invest, they are likely to continue through SIPs or diversified equity funds rather than going for thematics,” says Srivastava.

Small caps back in favour?

In the equity fund segment, inflows into large-cap funds, which rose last month, fell 26 percent month-on-month to Rs 2,547.92 crore. The Small Cap Fund category saw 9 percent higher inflows at Rs 4,111.89 crore, while investments into the mid cap fund category gained 4.3 percent to Rs 4,883.40 crore.

Viraj Gandhi, MD and CEO at Samco MF, highlighted that while there is net new inflow of Rs 35,943 crore in the month of November in equity schemes, but total Net AUM of the category has gone down by Rs 38,566 crore led by correction in main index in the previous month.

“Historically we have seen higher correction in small cap index when there is correction in broad indexes but this time to everybody’s surprise small cap schemes fell the least in previous month and is almost close to its all-time highs in this bounce back,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Manish Mehta, National Head Sales and Marketing, Kotak MF notes that this continued demand for small cap funds could be a result of the industry advising exposure to small and mid caps schemes through the SIP/STP route. “Many schemes continue to accept flows through SIP. This has led to small cap SIP books increasing and more net flows in the month,” he said.

SIP flows continue to drive the market

During the month, Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) saw inflows of Rs 25,319.66 crore, slightly lower than October's inflows of Rs 25,322 crore. At the end of November, the overall SIP assets under management (AUM) stood at Rs 11.79 lakh crore, representing 19.99 percent of the total equity and growth mutual fund assets (EGM).

The number of active SIP accounts also showed growth, rising to Rs 10.22 crore up from 10.12 crore accounts at the end of October. While 10 lakh new accounts were added, 39.14 lakh accounts were either matured or closed.

Shrikant Chauhan, Head of Research at Kotak Securities, notes that SIP (Systematic Investment Plan) flows have been steadily increasing month-on-month.

“Even in challenging market conditions, SIPs have minimised market downside. For instance, during heavy FII (Foreign Institutional) outflows, domestic inflows effectively balanced the market, a dynamic that was absent until recently," he said while speaking at the Kotak Securities' Market Outlook 2025 conference.

Mehta is of the view that SIP flows aided by lump sum purchase on certain market volatile days resulted in the overall net numbers coming in above Rs 30,000 crore. “It also reflects investors' mood towards mutual funds and its benefits of being an efficient vehicle for long term wealth creation,” he said.

Passive Funds and Gold continues to find takers

On Gold, Srivastava added that the category continues to glitter with investors showing their affinity towards gold in November as well. Gold ETF category saw net inflow of Rs 1,257 crore for the month.

“However, while the fund mobilised was less compared to October, redemption number was higher. This signifies that investors would have chosen to book profits with gold trading at elevated levels and impending marriage season, where the demand for physical gold is high,” he said.

In passive mutual funds, there has been a marginal growth of 0.8 percent during the month with inflow of Rs 7,061 crore during the month of November.

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