MF Update: Equity MF AUMs decline in January 19

The assets under management (AUMs) of the equity-dedicated MF schemes dropped in the month of January 2019 by 1.6% on a sequential basis. The AUMs dropped after a gap of two months. The AUMs had increased by 4 per cent in November 2018 and 1.6 per cent in December 2018. The factors that led to such a fall is the drop in the overall equity market and the lower sales of equity schemes. The broader market BSE 500 fell by 2.42 per cent in the month of January 2018, while the inflows declined by 4.6% on a monthly basis. All this led to equity AUMs, as a percentage of India’s market capitalisation, increased 80 bps on a yearly basis to 5.9 per cent in Jan 2019.

What saved the day for equity MFs were the steady inflows through the systematic investment plans (SIPs). For the month of January 2018, the total amount garnered through SIP route was Rs 8064 crore.

The weightage of technology, private banks, consumer, oil & gas and healthcare increased in the month of January 2019, while that of automobiles, NBFCs, capital goods, utilities, cement, metals, infrastructure, media and telecom declined.

Despite all the volatility we are witnessing in the NBFC sector, it still has the third highest weightage in the asset allocation of mutual funds

. The IT sector, which occupied the fifth position about 12 months ago, is now in the second position in terms of holdings by mutual funds. Private sector banks command the numero uno position and have reached a new high of 18.5% of total equity AUMs. 

The companies in which MF schemes increased their holdings in the month of January 2018 were HDFC Bank and Infosys, while the companies that witnessed the most sell-offs were L&T, Maruti Suzuki, M&M, Coal India and ONGC.