Mutual Fund AUM falls for third-straight month in Jan

New Delhi: Assets base of the country's mutual fund industry dropped to Rs 12.74 lakh crore at the end of January, making it the third consecutive monthly decline, due to lower investment in equity schemes.

As of January-end, over 40 fund houses in the country together had an average AUM of Rs 12,73,714 crore as against Rs 12,74,835 crore in the preceding month, the latest data of the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed.

The industry's AUM was at Rs 12.95 lakh crore in November, while it had touched an all time high of Rs 13.24 lakh crore in October. In comparison, the assets base stood at Rs 11.87 lakh crore in September.

Overall inflow in mutual fund schemes was at Rs 22,569 crore at the end of last month, compared with an outflow of Rs 22,567 crore at December-end.

Industry experts said the quarterly decline in assets under management (AUM) is largely on account of slowdown in inflows in equity and equity linked saving schemes.

The decline in the AUM is coincided with BSE's benchmark Sensex plunging by nearly 5 percent during the period under review.

Equity schemes received funds to the tune of Rs 2,914 crore last month, lower than Rs 3,644 crore inflow witnessed in December. Prior to that, equity schemes saw inflow of over Rs 6,000 crore each in October and November.

MFs are investment vehicles made up of a pool of funds collected from a large number of investors and invest in stocks, bonds and money market instruments, among others.