Association of Mutual Funds in India data showed that equity mutual fund inflows moderated in April, slipping 5 per cent month-on-month to Rs 38,440 crore from Rs 40450 crore recorded in March. Despite the monthly decline, investor participation remained robust on an annual basis, with inflows jumping 58 per cent compared to Rs 24269 crore seen in April last year.
Smallcap funds continued to attract strong investor interest and emerged as one of the top-performing categories during the month. These schemes received inflows of Rs 6,885 crore in April, marking a 10 per cent increase over the Rs 6263 crore recorded in March. Midcap funds also witnessed healthy traction, garnering Rs 6,551 crore in inflows, up 8 per cent from Rs 6063 crore in the previous month.
Among the other equity categories, focused funds registered the lowest positive inflow at Rs 1194 crore. At the same time, ELSS funds remained under pressure and reported outflows of Rs 567 crore. Dividend yield funds also continued to witness withdrawals, recording outflows of Rs 20.58 crore.
Debt mutual funds staged a strong recovery in April after seeing heavy redemptions in March. The category, which had reported outflows of Rs 2.94 lakh crore in the previous month, saw inflows of Rs 2.47 lakh crore in April.
Within debt schemes, liquid funds attracted the highest inflows at Rs 1.65 lakh crore. Overnight funds followed with inflows of Rs 31,420 crore, while money market funds received Rs 20642 crore. Ultra short duration funds also remained in demand, recording inflows of Rs 15,651 crore.
On the other hand, gilt funds saw the highest outflows among debt categories at Rs 1048 crore. Long duration funds also witnessed withdrawals worth Rs 727 crore. Gilt funds with 10-year constant duration recorded the smallest outflow in the segment at Rs 149 crore.
Hybrid mutual funds also posted a sharp turnaround during the month. The category received inflows of Rs 20565 crore in April after witnessing outflows of Rs 16538 crore in March.
Among hybrid schemes, arbitrage funds led the inflow chart with Rs 12378 crore, followed by multi-asset allocation funds, which attracted Rs 5113 crore. Balanced advantage and dynamic asset allocation funds together received inflows of Rs 1773 crore, while aggressive hybrid funds garnered Rs 1488 crore.
However, conservative hybrid funds and equity savings funds remained in negative territory, witnessing outflows of Rs 106 crore and Rs 81 crore, respectively.