
In July, equity mutual fund folios surged to a record 5.4 million, largely fueled by new sector-specific fund launches, according to AMFI. The rise was driven by nearly ₹10,000 crore in inflows, primarily from new fund offers. Overall, the total folio count climbed to 138 million, with sectoral funds making up 18% of the total.
The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) reported that equity mutual fund folios hit a record high in July, reaching 5.4 million. This substantial growth was spurred by the introduction of new sectoral funds, which brought in nearly ₹10,000 crore. The number of folios added in July was almost triple the monthly average of 1.8 million seen over the last two years.
Sectoral funds were a major contributor, accounting for nearly half of the new folios added in July, with inflows totaling ₹9,790 crore. The Edelweiss Business Cycle Fund and the ICICI Prudential Energy Opportunities Fund were key players in this surge, thanks to their new fund offers (NFOs).
When mutual funds launch a new fund, it often leads to a significant rise in folio numbers. A single investor can have multiple folios across different schemes within an asset management company (AMC). An increase in folio count, without a corresponding rise in unique investors, suggests that existing investors are boosting their equity allocations by investing in new fund offers.
With the record-breaking additions in July, the total number of folios reached 138 million. This pushed the average investment per folio to an all-time high of ₹2.1 lakh across equity funds, compared to ₹1.8 lakh a year earlier. Dividend yield funds had the highest average investment per folio at ₹3.1 lakh, followed by focused funds at ₹2.9 lakh and flexicap funds at ₹2.7 lakh.
Sectoral funds represented 18% of the total equity folios in India, followed by smallcap funds at 15.1%, ELSS at 11.9%, with the remaining folios spread across other equity funds.