Page 17 - Banking Finance November 2020
P. 17
MUTUAL FUND
MUTUAL FUND
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
NEWS
Mutual funds see record raced ahead even as the economic short-term perspective, who believe
recovery remained fragile back home. most of the positives are factored in.
outflow in October 20
"Mutual funds have played it safe since That said, they remain bullish on the
Mutual funds continued their selling the past few months. Moreover, most road ahead for equities from a medium-
spree for the fifth straight month in to-long term perspective, but caution
retail investors started investing on
October, pulling out Rs 14,344 crore against intermittent corrections.
their own during the lockdown. Given
from the equity markets during the
the uncertain macro-economic envi-
month, as per Sebi data. This is the ronment and the fact that the markets UTI Mutual Fund launches
highest single-month withdrawal since
were not in sync with the economic campaign on Quora
March 2016 when they had pulled out reality also created some confusion in
Rs 10,198 crore. the mind of investors. As a result of UTI Mutual Fund (UTI MF) is extend-
ing its investor education initiative on
Thus far in the calendar year 2020 these factors, mutual funds too pre-
(CY20), mutual funds' net inflows stand ferred to remain on the sideline," ex- Quora platform. UTI Swatantra has
at Rs 2,671 crore. If the pace of with- plains G Chokkalingam, founder and been trying to simplify investment con-
drawal continues, they are likely to chief investment officer at Equinomics cepts, demystify myths and increase
turn net sellers for the first time in Research. financial literacy. It's only natural that
seven years. Earlier, in CY13, mutual Even though mutual funds have been Swatantra Kumar established its pres-
funds had sold equities to the tune of on a selling spree, foreign portfolio in- ence on Quora, a platform where cus-
Rs 21,082 crore. vestors (FPIs) have been investing tomers are seeking answers to their
In the past five months (since June heavily. During October 2020, FPIs put questions on various topics.
2020), mutual funds have sold equities in Rs 19,541 crore, or $2.66 billion, till Swatantra Kumar is the personification
worth Rs 37,388 crore. In April, they October 29 - their biggest single-month of one of India's largest investor edu-
had recorded net outflow of Rs 7,996 investment in the past 11 months, cation initiatives - UTI Swatantra.
crore, while in May they had invested NSDL data show. Their investment in The primary objective of this initiative
a net Rs 6,522 crore in equities. Prior CY20 till date stands at Rs 47,887 crore is to simplify and resolve complexities
to the withdrawal, mutual funds in- or $6.46 billion. In this backdrop, the for retail investors with regard to their
vested a net Rs 41,533 crore in stock S&P BSE Sensex has slipped 1.54 per decision making process. This platform
market during January - March 2020, cent in CY20, however it gained 58 per aims to reach out to more and more
Sebi data show. cent since its 52-week low of 25,639 individuals to make them financially
points touched on March 24, 2020.
Analysts attribute this withdrawal aware and confident so that they have
trend to the nervousness ahead of US The sharp rise in equity markets has better control over their financial
polls and the fact that the markets now made analysts cautious from a choices.
BANKING FINANCE | NOVEMBER | 2020 | 17
