This year will go down as the best ever in the history of India’s mutual fund (MF) industry. Domestic MFs witnessed total inflows of ₹1.69-lakh crore in 2017, which is the highest so far.

Data from financial services firm Edelweiss said that despite weakness in the equity market in November, equity schemes saw staggering inflows worth over ₹32,700 crore. Out of this, over ₹14,500 crore went into the Bharat 22 Exchange Traded Fund, Edelweiss data showed.

The total MF inflows so far are at ₹1.69 lakh crore, the data showed.

MFs were net buyers of equity worth ₹10,700 crore in November. Comparatively, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold stocks worth over ₹13,500 crore during the month.

“Indian MFs are now a counter-force to selling by FPIs as demonetisation led people to move their bank deposits to MFs,” said an analyst at a Mumbai-based MF.

“Around ₹4,000-5,000 crore worth of steady inflows came through systematic investment plans and this figure will rise in the coming months.”

Assets under management (AUM) of equity MFs stood at ₹22.79 lakh crore, up by 6.5 per cent in November, with equity, balanced and debt schemes all witnessing steady inflows.

MFs are witnessing such high inflows nearly a decade after the 2008 financial crisis, which saw investors turning away from equities.

Massive selling by FPIs in the stock market has been largely absorbed by MFs, thereby arresting any any major fall in the stock market.

Thanks to inflows into mutual funds, the equity market in India has witnessed only a 3-4 per cent fall for the whole of 2017, which is a record in itself, analysts said.

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