By Vineet Kumar 
In October, open-ended equity mutual funds in India experienced a record-breaking net inflow of Rs 41,887 crore, even as stock markets struggled, according to the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI). This marks the 44th consecutive month of positive inflows into open-ended equity funds, highlighting a consistent demand for equity investments.
The inflows into equity funds were up by 21.69% compared to September. Despite the Sensex and Nifty both dropping by 5.77% and 6.22%, respectively, in October, investors showed strong interest in small-cap, mid-cap, and large-cap funds. Large-cap funds attracted inflows nearly twice as large as the previous month, reaching Rs 3,452 crore. Meanwhile, mid-cap fund inflows surged by 50% to Rs 4,683 crore, and small-cap fund inflows increased by 23% to Rs 3,772 crore. The Sectoral/Thematic category also saw significant interest, with four new fund offerings raising Rs 3,517 crore.
Debt mutual funds also saw substantial inflows, totaling Rs 1,57,402 crore. The Liquid Fund category led with Rs 83,863 crore, followed by Overnight Funds and Money Market Funds, both of which received Rs 25,303 crore in net inflows. Conversely, there were minor outflows from Credit Risk and Medium Duration funds.
Hybrid funds experienced net inflows of Rs 16,863 crore, driven by demand for Arbitrage, Dynamic Asset Allocation/Balanced Advantage, and Multi Asset Allocation Funds. In other investment options, index funds gained Rs 7,931 crore in inflows, while Gold ETFs attracted Rs 1,962 crore.
In total, open-ended mutual funds saw an overall outflow of Rs 2,39,906.79 crore in October across all categories. Despite market challenges, the robust interest in equity and fixed-income categories indicates continued investor conf
idence.