Retail investors flood record inflows in thematic funds in March: Amfi data

• Follow

Thematic or sectoral funds seem to be favourites of retail investors. This particular category of mutual fund has received maximum inflows in the last one year or so. According to Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) data, in March 2024 too, thematic funds garnered highest inflows compared to all other categories of equity funds. The thematic funds have got highest monthly inflows in March.

The inflows in thematic funds have doubled to Rs 7,917 crore in March 2024 from Rs 3,928 crore last year in the same period.

The AUM of sectoral funds has reached Rs 2.97 lakh crore in the last month of 2023-24. It has jumped 72 per cent year-on-year (YoY) from Rs 1.72 lakh crore in March 2023.

During the same period, overall inflows in equity funds jumped 10 per cent YoY to Rs 22,633 crore in March 2024 from Rs 20,534 crore in year ago month.

AUM of equity mutual funds has risen 54 per cent to Rs 23.48 lakh crore in March 2024 from Rs 15.17 lakh crore in March 2023.

As of March 2024, the AUM of thematic funds constituted 12 per cent of that of all equity funds combined while that of flexi cap funds is the highest at 15 per cent followed by large cap funds at 13 per cent.

After Covid-19 pandemic saga, new retail investors have been bullish on equities and inflows have been positive since March 2021. Since then, not a single month has gone by where outflow of funds from equity mutual funds was witnessed.

Sensing strong retail participation in sectoral funds, asset management companies (AMCs) have also launched maximum schemes in this category as compared to others.  So far, there are 160 thematic mutual fund schemes. While the total number of equity schemes stand at 440. Thematic schemes constitute 36 per cent of total equity mutual funds in the country.

After small cap funds, retail investors have opened highest number of folios in thematic funds. As of March 2024, there are 1.82 crore folios in sectoral funds. This is 15 per cent of total equity folios in the industry. There are a total of 12.28 crore folios of equity mutual funds.