For a long time, the mutual fund industry made headlines for receiving massive inflows as direct participation in the market went up a lot. It felt like nothing could go wrong and the mood was extremely buoyant.
After remaining buoyant throughout this year and some more months before that, mutual fund investors are slowing down their pace.
Data released by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) showed that equity mutual fund inflows were at a 10-month low of Rs 61 bn in August 2022.
Inflow in July were at Rs 89 bn, while they stood at Rs 155 bn in June, Rs 185.3 bn in May and Rs 158.9 bn in April.
FIIs are coming back to India and domestic investors are shying away...how the times have changed and so quickly.
From the peak of Rs 284.6 bn received in March this year, inflows into equity MFs have moderated triggered by the added volatility as a result of hawkish stance by central banks around the world.
However, retail participation as a share of overall MF industry AUM was more than 50% so there's no red flag as of now. This indicator shows the retail investors' interest in mutual funds.
Data revealed by the mutual funds association in India (AMFI) showed that total assets under management for the mutual fund industry rose to Rs 39.3 tn as of 31 August 2022, compared to Rs 37.8 tn in July 2022.
Categories such as large & mid-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap equity funds saw inflows of over Rs 10 bn, while flexi cap funds topped the charts and saw inflows of over Rs 20 bn.
Debt-oriented schemes received net flows of Rs 491.6 bn compared to just Rs 49.3 bn in July.
Inflows through systematic investment plans (SIP) stood at Rs 126.9 bn, which is an all-time high figure. No surprises here.
SIP accounts went up to 57.1 bn in August 2022 compared to 56.1 bn in the previous month. SIPs have been in favor. If anyone asks where to invest in mutual funds, they'll refer the SIP route hands down.
Gold exchange traded funds (ETFs) saw outflows of Rs 381.4 m as investors booked profits after a fall in gold prices.
Meanwhile, the month gone by also saw multiple new fund offers (NFOs), including names such as Quant Large Cap Fund, IDFC Midcap Fund, Edelweiss Focused Equity Fund, Baroda BNP Paribas Flexi Cap Fund and WOC Flexi Cap Fund.
Let's take a look at the stocks that mutual funds traded the most during this period...
Largecaps: Indian mutual funds trimmed their positions in largecap stocks such as Reliance Industries, Infosys, TCS, and Bharti Airtel.
Bluest of bluechip stocks were offloaded by fund managers last month.
Midcaps: From the midcap space, mutual funds offloaded IDFC First Bank and ABB India.
Smallcaps: Kirloskar Oil, Granules India, and VIP Industries saw maximum selling by MFs from the smallcap space in August 2022.
Largecaps: Coming to buying, Kotak Mahindra Bank, HDFC AMC, Maruti Suzuki, and NTPC, among other largecaps, witnessed massive inflows.
Midcaps: From the midcap space, fund managers loaded up shares of Sona BLW Precision, Max Healthcare, NMDC, and Gland Pharma.
Sona BLW Precision, a proxy play to the EV opportunity, saw massive inflows in August 2022. In the most recent quarterly results, 29% of the company's revenue and 62% of its order book came from its battery electric vehicle (BEV) business.
Smallcaps: Rolex Rings, Kirloskar Pneumatic, and the newly listed Syrma SGS Tech were the top smallcap buys.
Here is the list of top 10 mutual fund houses as per their equity asset under management (AUM) as of August 2022.
Top Fund Houses | Equity AUM (Rs bn) |
---|---|
SBI Mutual Fund | 4,342.1 |
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund | 2,266.6 |
HDFC Mutual Fund | 2,074.7 |
UTI Mutual Fund | 1,600.2 |
Nippon India Mutual Fund | 1,596.0 |
Axis Mutual Fund | 1,455.8 |
Kotak Mutual Fund | 1,355.7 |
Aditya Birla SL Mutual Fund | 1,131.5 |
Mirae Asset Mutual Fund | 992.4 |
DSP Mutual Fund | 672.2 |
India's largest equity fund held Rs 4,342 bn in equities as of August 2022. (July 2022 figure was Rs 4,146).
The top four equity holdings of the fund include ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, and Infosys.
Here's what SBI Mutual Fund bought and sold in August 2022.
New Buys | Value as on 31 August 2022 (Rs m) |
---|---|
Karur Vysya Bank Ltd. | 420.90 |
Dixon Technologies (India) Ltd. | 193.20 |
Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. | 136.20 |
Intellect Design Arena Ltd. | 18.20 |
Firstsource Solutions Ltd. | 7.30 |
Birlasoft Ltd. | 1.70 |
Atul Ltd. | 0.70 |
Complete Sell | Value as on 31 July 2022 (Rs m) |
---|---|
Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd. | 1,794.90 |
Ajanta Pharma Ltd. | 715.00 |
Cyient Ltd. | 236.30 |
TV Today Network Ltd. | 30.70 |
Indian Terrain Fashions Ltd. | 10.60 |
Syngene International Ltd. | 1.10 |
Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes | Change in No. of Shares |
---|---|
Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd. | 180,003 |
RBL Bank Ltd. | 1,404,478 |
Voltas Ltd. | 34,883 |
Granules India Ltd. | -282,000 |
Aarti Industries Ltd. | -51,000 |
LIC Housing Finance Ltd. | -990,000 |
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund was the second largest equity fund house with Rs 2,267 bn in equities as of August 2022. The same figure in the month of July 2022 was Rs 2,226 bn.
The top three equity holdings of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund include ICICI Bank, Infosys, and HDFC Bank.
Here's what the fund bought and sold in August 2022.
New Buys | Value as on 31 August 2022 (Rs m) |
---|---|
Syrma SGS Technology Ltd. | 492.20 |
Tega Industries Ltd. | 84.70 |
Complete Sell | Value as on 31 July 2022 (Rs m) |
---|---|
Repco Home Finance Ltd. | 112.90 |
Capacit'e Infraprojects Ltd. | 86.60 |
Hindustan Oil Exploration Company Ltd. | 17.80 |
Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes | Change in No. of Shares |
---|---|
Devyani International Ltd. | 614,341 |
Century Textiles & Industries Ltd. | 48,521 |
Kajaria Ceramics Ltd. | 99,744 |
GMM Pfaudler Ltd. | -217,980 |
Home First Finance Company India Ltd. | -774,501 |
Metropolis Healthcare Ltd. | -246,608 |
Following ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund we have HDFC Mutual Fund with Rs 2,075 bn in equities as of August 2022. In July 2022, the figure was Rs 1,991 bn.
The top five equity holdings of the fund include ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, State Bank of India, Infosys, and Reliance Industries.
Here's what HDFC Mutual Fund bought and sold in August 2022.
New Buys | Value as on 31 August 2022 (Rs m) |
---|---|
The Ramco Cements Ltd. | 314.20 |
Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. | 25.20 |
L&T Finance Holdings Ltd. | 4.20 |
Manappuram Finance Ltd. | 0.60 |
Intellect Design Arena Ltd. | 0.40 |
Complete Sell | Value as on 31 July 2022 (Rs m) |
---|---|
Praj Industries Ltd. | 108.20 |
Granules India Ltd. | 76.10 |
National Aluminium Company Ltd. | 40.30 |
Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes | Change in No. of Shares |
---|---|
AU Small Finance Bank Ltd. | 1,168,304 |
NMDC Ltd. | 705,264 |
Oil India Ltd. | 250,000 |
IDFC First Bank Ltd. | -4,138,383 |
GE Power India Ltd. | -107,602 |
ABB India Ltd. | -659,041 |
As can be seen from the buying activity of fund managers, they offloaded IT stocks as recession concerns loom large.
While capital goods, auto ancillary, and the auto sector witnessed huge inflows amid prospects of a turnaround in the economy and an expected revival in capital expenditure.
If the above data is anything to go by, it appears that fund managers are focusing more on the best smallcap stocks and the best midcap stocks as companies from both these categories are available at attractive valuations due to the selloff in the last few months.
The Indian stock market is still struggling to find its feet after a sharp rebound seen from its June 2022 lows.
The focus is back on risks including rising crude prices, inflation in the US, interest rates, and trade wars. These issues have taken center stage.
The question on every investor's mind these days is whether the stock market could collapse to June 2022 levels.
If the stock markets do crash, keep some cash on hand and use it to buy fundamentally strong stocks.
How the mutual fund buying and selling trend pans out in the month of September 2022 remains to be seen.
We will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.
Stay tuned.
Since you're interested in what mutual funds are buying and selling, check out Equitymaster's Powerful Stock Screener.
This tool tracks the stocks recently bought by mutual funds along with the stocks recently sold by them.
Happy investing!
PS: The above piece relies on data from PersonalFN. PersonalFN is a Mumbai based personal finance firm offering Financial Planning and Mutual Fund Research services.
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only. It is not a stock recommendation and should not be treated as such. Learn more about our recommendation services here...
Yash Vora is a financial writer with the Microcap Millionaires team at Equitymaster. He has followed the stock markets right from his early college days. So, Yash has a keen eye for the big market movers. His clear and crisp writeups offer sharp insights on market moving stocks, fund flows, economic data and IPOs. When not looking at stocks, Yash loves a game of table tennis or chess.
Equitymaster requests your view! Post a comment on "Top 5 Stocks Mutual Funds Bought and Sold in August 2022". Click here!
Comments are moderated by Equitymaster, in accordance with the Terms of Use, and may not appear
on this article until they have been reviewed and deemed appropriate for posting.
In the meantime, you may want to share this article with your friends!