Top 5 Stocks Mutual Funds Bought and Sold in September 2021

Just like August 2021, the month of September 2021 saw strong inflows into equity mutual funds.

Inflows into equity funds came in at Rs 21 bn in September 2021, compared to Rs 18 bn recorded in August.

New fund offer (NFO) inflows stood at Rs 65.8 bn compared to Rs 68.6 bn in August 2021.

The overall mutual funds industry's assets under management (AUM) jumped to nearly Rs 37 lakh crore in September 2021.

This resulted in a 33% growth if compared to the year-ago period.

However, net inflows fell for the second straight month. As per data by association of mutual funds in India (AMFI), equity mutual funds net inflows stood at Rs 64.6 bn, down from Rs 80.6 bn in August.

A major contribution to this month's inflows came from systematic investment plans (SIPs). For the first time, SIPs crossed the Rs 100 bn milestone.

SIP inflows came in at Rs 103.5 bn in September, compared to Rs 99.2 bn in August 2021.

New SIP account registrations increased to a record 2.68 m in September 2021. This is nearly 2.5 times higher than the long-term average.

September 2021 also marked the fourth consecutive month of new SIP registrations topping 2 m.

In fact, these SIP additions are a major factor of the rally we are seeing in Indian share markets.

The Indian share market's record run is finding strong support from retail mutual fund investors with SIP being the preferred mode.

As markets are trading at record high levels with no valuation concerns whatsoever, investors with low appetite have been encouraged to turn towards mutual fund SIPs.

Although the inflows have slowed down, this marked the seventh consecutive monthly infusion.

Before this, equity scheme had repeatedly witnessed outflows for eight consecutive months between July 2020 to February 2021.

July saw the highest equity inflows because interest rates on fixed deposits were lower than the inflation rate.

In August, new fund offers (NFOs) launched by MF houses contributed to most of the inflows.

In September, SIP was the knight in shining armor.

So, are mutual fund investors turning cautious as markets trade at all-time high?

Let us take a look at which stocks mutual funds traded in the most during this period...

Top Stocks Sold by Mutual Funds in September 2021

Largecaps: Indian mutual funds trimmed their positions in largecap stocks such as Yes Bank, Indus Towers, HDFC Life, Bharti Airtel, and Adani Green Energy in September.

Indus Towers has witnessed huge selling by MFs as it also featured in this list in the previous month.

Midcaps: Among midcap stocks, the highest-selling was seen in IRCTC, Sun TV Network, Dr Lal PathLabs, Nippon Life AMC, and Linde India.

Smallcaps: From the smallcap space, mutual funds trimmed positions in Gujarat Narmada, Laxmi Organic Industries, Granules India, and Railtel Corp in September.

Top Stocks Bought by Mutual Funds in September 2021

Largecaps: Coming to buying, HDFC AMC, Piramal Enterprises, Adani Enterprises, SBI Cards and IndiGo witnessed massive inflows.

Adani Enterprises had seen huge buying in the month of August too.

Midcaps: From the midcap space, fund managers loaded up shares of Vodafone Idea, Max Healthcare, Canara Bank, and GMR Infra.

Smallcaps: Kolte Patil, PTC India, Arvind Fashions, and India Glycols were the top smallcap buys.

Top Equity Mutual Funds in September 2021

Her is the list of top 10 mutual fund houses as per their equity asset under management (AUM) as on September 2021.

Top 10 Equity Mutual Funds as per AUM

Top Fund Houses	Equity AUM (Rs bn)
SBI Mutual Fund	3,541.0
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund	1,981.9
HDFC Mutual Fund	1,815.1
Nippon India Mutual Fund	1,433.0
UTI Mutual Fund	1,384.9
Axis Mutual Fund	1,366.1
Kotak Mutual Fund	1,161.4
Aditya Birla SL Mutual Fund	1,103.6
Mirae Asset Mutual Fund	838.8
DSP Mutual Fund	655.5

Data Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research

What India's Top Mutual Funds Bought and Sold in September 2021

• SBI Mutual Fund

  India's largest equity fund held Rs 3,541 bn in equities as of September 2021.

  The top four equity holdings of the fund include HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, Infosys and ICICI Bank.

  Here's what SBI Mutual Fund bought and sold in September 2021.

  New Buys	Value as on 30 September 2021 (Rs m)
  AMI Organics Ltd.	525.70
  Indian Energy Exchange Ltd.	305.20
  Vijaya Diagnostic Centre Ltd.	267.20
  Astral Ltd.	109.90
  Gujarat Gas Ltd.	78.90
  Ipca Laboratories Ltd.	6.00
  Complete Sell	Value as on 31 August 2021 (Rs m)
  Laxmi Organic Industries Ltd.	208.70
  Hindustan Zinc Ltd.	0.40
  General Insurance Corporation of India	0.20
  Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes	Change in No. of Shares
  REC Ltd.	1,025,928
  Indiamart Intermesh Ltd.	17,625
  Indian Railway Catering And Tourism Corporation Ltd.	33,475
  Avanti Feeds Ltd.	-125,000
  Clean Science And Technology Ltd.	-202,571
  Cadila Healthcare Ltd.	-704,997

  Data Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research

• ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund

  ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund stands as the second largest equity fund with Rs 1,982 bn in equities as of September 2021. The same figure in the month of August was Rs 1,961 bn.

  The top three equity holdings of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund include ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, and HDFC Bank.

  Here's what the fund bought and sold in September 2021.

  New Buys	Value as on 30 September 2021 (Rs m)
  Sansera Engineering Ltd.	346.70
  Vijaya Diagnostic Centre Ltd.	267.20
  Ingersoll-Rand (India) Ltd.	111.80
  Wonderla Holidays Ltd.	70.40
  Macrotech Developers Ltd.	2.40
  Indian Railway Finance Corporation Ltd.	1.90
  Complete Sell	Value as on 31 August 2021 (Rs m)
  Nazara Technologies Ltd.	55.80
  Tatva Chintan Pharma Chem Ltd.	44.90
  Tata Steel Long Products Ltd.	17.70
  Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes	Change in No. of Shares
  Symphony Ltd.	184,295
  Route Mobile Ltd.	19,283
  Akzo Nobel India Ltd.	51,654
  Sunteck Realty Ltd.	-1,403,430
  The South Indian Bank Ltd.	-5,000,377
  La Opala RG Ltd.	-7,349

  Data Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research

• HDFC Mutual Fund

  Following ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund we have HDFC Mutual Fund with Rs 1,815 bn in equities as of September 2021.

  The top five equity holdings of the fund include State Bank of India (SBI), ICICI Bank, Infosys, HDFC Bank, and NTPC.

  Here's what HDFC Mutual Fund bought and sold in September 2021.

  New Buys	Value as on 30 September 2021 (Rs m)
  Indian Energy Exchange Ltd.	96.90
  Action Construction Equipment Ltd.	89.60
  Indraprastha Gas Ltd.	69.60
  Indiamart Intermesh Ltd.	45.20
  Polycab India Ltd.	7.20
  Complete Sell	Value as on 31 August 2021 (Rs m)
  Century Plyboards (India) Ltd.	287.10
  SpiceJet Ltd.	50.00
  Colgate-Palmolive (India) Ltd.	42.70
  TVS Motor Company Ltd.	32.30
  Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes	Change in No. of Shares
  PVR Ltd.	224,257
  Can Fin Homes Ltd.	185,250
  AU Small Finance Bank Ltd.	102,391
  SRF Ltd.	-32,500
  Interglobe Aviation Ltd.	-294,726
  Astral Ltd.	-289,275

  Data Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research

As Indian stock markets have stabilised at higher levels, sentiment has improved and investors have become more confident now.

There are multiple factors pitching in for the rally we are witnessing. These include the pent-up demand coming back, industrial activity picking up, and recovery in manufacturing activity.

The month of September 2021 saw aggressive churn in stocks and the top funds have used the rally to selectively restructure the bias of their portfolios.

Backed by ample liquidity and bullish sentiment, asset management companies (AMCs) have launched NFOs.

Fund managers are showing huge appetite for recently listed initial public offerings (IPOs). This trend started in July and continued in September too.

Mutual funds enthusiastically bought recent debutants - Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC, Vijaya Diagnostics, Sansera Engineering, and Ami Organics.

Fund houses invested nearly Rs 8 bn in the IPO of Vijaya Diagnostics.

The increased participation in SIPs clearly shows the improving appetite from retail individuals.

As benchmark indices trade at sky-high valuations with big companies reporting in-line results, the momentum is likely to continue this year.

With new demat account additions, experts say that the MF industry in its nascent stage, will hit the Rs 100 lakh crore-mark in the next 10 years.

How the mutual fund buying and selling trend pans out in the month of October remains to be seen.

We will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

Stay tuned.

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.