Top 5 Stocks Mutual Funds Bought and Sold in October 2022

The month of October 2022 was a mixed bag as far as mutual fund activity was concerned as mutual fund inflows slowed down.

Inflows into equity mutual funds came in at Rs 93.9 billion (bn) (around Rs 9,390 crore) as against Rs 141 bn recorded in September 2022.

Data filtered from the regulatory body for the mutual funds AMFI showed that largecap, smallcap, midcap and thematic funds were the main contributors to the inflows.

Except dividend yield funds, all categories of equity mutual funds saw inflows with sector schemes clocking the highest inflow of Rs 26.9 bn, according to AMFI data.

Midcap and smallcap funds saw the highest flows of Rs 13.9 bn and Rs 15.9 bn, respectively.

Index funds saw inflows of Rs 50.8 bn as investors preferred to stick to low-cost index funds.

Money continued to flow out of debt funds despite higher interest rate hikes. Interest rate hikes boost debt funds' future return potential. In October 2022, investors pulled out over Rs 15 bn from corporate bond funds and banking & PSU funds, the two most-popular debt funds among retail investors.

Industry experts are of the view that inflows will be back to debt funds once the rate hike cycle is complete.

Inflows through systematic investment plans (SIP) rose to a monthly record and stood at Rs 130.4 bn. This compared with previous month's inflows of Rs 129.8 bn.

Number of SIP accounts stood at 59.3 m in October 2022 by a decent addition of 952,385 accounts.

Going by SIP inflows in the first seven months of current calendar year, the industry is set to breach record SIP collections of the previous year. SIPs have been in favor among retail investors. If anyone asks where to invest in mutual funds, they'll refer the SIP route hands down.

Let's take a look at the stocks that mutual funds traded the most during this period...

Top Stocks Sold by Mutual Funds in October 2022

Largecaps: Indian mutual funds trimmed their positions in largecap stocks such as Axis Bank, Coal India, Bharti Airtel, and HCL Technologies.

Midcaps: From the midcap space, mutual funds offloaded NMDC, Voltas, Federal Bank, and Indraprastha Gas. Tata group company Voltas has been falling in the recent past and it appears MFs have also turned bearish.

Smallcaps: Rites, Welspun Corp, Metropolis, and Indiabulls Real Estate saw maximum selling by MFs from the smallcap space in October 2022. Metropolis Healthcare in particular saw heavy selling as India's top 3 mutual funds sold stake in heavy chunk.

Top Stocks Bought by Mutual Funds in October 2022

Largecaps: Coming to buying, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, and Infosys witnessed massive inflows.

Mutual funds bought approximately 4.7 m shares of Reliance even as Mukesh Ambani-led company's net profit fell sequentially in the September 2022 quarter.

Reliance's oil-to-chemicals (O2C) business weighed on its earnings and many brokerages reduced their target prices. But fund managers went the other way.

Midcaps: From the midcap space, fund managers loaded up shares of Tata Chemicals, Gland Pharma, Delhivery, and Zee Entertainment. Gland Pharma and Delhivery shares are beaten down this year so mutual funds could be expecting a rebound.

Smallcaps: RBL Bank, Electronics Mart, and Karur Vyasa Bank were the top smallcap buys.

Top Equity Mutual Funds in October 2022

Here is the list of top 10 mutual fund houses as per their equity asset under management (AUM) as of October 2022.

Top 10 Equity Mutual Funds as per AUM

Top Fund Houses	Equity AUM (Rs bn)
SBI Mutual Fund	4,573.3
ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund	2,364.8
HDFC Mutual Fund	2,114.7
UTI Mutual Fund	1,649.1
Nippon India Mutual Fund	1,647.2
Axis Mutual Fund	1,440.1
Kotak Mutual Fund	1,390.4
Aditya Birla SL Mutual Fund	1,131.9
Mirae Asset Mutual Fund	1,013.4
DSP Mutual Fund	680.8

Data Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research

What India's Top Mutual Funds Bought and Sold in October 2022

• SBI Mutual Fund

  India's largest equity fund held Rs 4,573 bn in equities as of October 2022. The September 2022 figure was Rs 4,335 bn.

  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 October 2022.

  New Buys	Value as on 31 October 2022 (Rs m)
  Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd.	165.60
  Rites Ltd.	134.40
  Astral Ltd.	96.80
  Supreme Industries Ltd.	48.00
  Varun Beverages Ltd.	17.00
  Tata Elxsi Ltd.	16.90
  KPIT Technologies Ltd.	13.60
  CG Power and Industrial Solutions Ltd.	11.30

  Complete Sell	Value as on 30 September 2022 (Rs m)
  Aarti Industries Ltd.	12.00

  Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes	Change in No. of Shares
  Shriram Transport Finance Company Ltd.	40,899
  Petronet LNG Ltd.	474,930
  Voltas Ltd.	832,038
  Housing & Urban Development Corporation Ltd.	-5,508,569
  Metropolis Healthcare Ltd.	-50,916
  Sadbhav Engineering Ltd.	-1,514,201

  Data Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research

• ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund

  ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund was the second largest equity fund house with Rs 2,365 bn in equities as of October 2022. The same figure in the month of September 2022 was Rs 2,248 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 October 2022.

  New Buys	Value as on 31 October 2022 (Rs m)
  Tracxn Technologies Ltd.	542.10

  Complete Sell	Value as on 30 September 2022 (Rs m)
  Aarti Industries Ltd.	14.20

  Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes	Change in No. of Shares
  Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd.	608,886
  Shoppers Stop Ltd.	119,217
  Sumitomo Chemical India Ltd.	563,565
  BASF India Ltd.	-3,331
  Metropolis Healthcare Ltd.	-12,777
  Power Finance Corporation Ltd.	-4,078,950

  Data Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research

• HDFC Mutual Fund

  Following ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund we have HDFC Mutual Fund with Rs 2,115 bn in equities as of October 2022. The September 2022 figure was Rs 2,003 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 October 2022.

  New Buys	Value as on 31 October 2022 (Rs m)
  Electronics Mart India Ltd.	228.70
  Granules India Ltd.	58.90
  Gujarat Narmada Valley Fertilizers & Chemicals Ltd.	56.20
  Astral Ltd.	1.10
  Coromandel International Ltd.	0.70
  Polycab India Ltd.	0.70

  Complete Sell	Value as on 30 September 2022 (Rs m)
  Bank Of India	303.00
  NMDC Ltd.	136.50
  Steel Authority Of India Ltd.	84.70
  Rain Industries Ltd.	16.00
  PVR Ltd.	5.80
  Deepak Nitrite Ltd.	2.50

  Top Increase / Decrease in Stakes	Change in No. of Shares
  L&T Finance Holdings Ltd.	187,404
  Birlasoft Ltd.	205,400
  Hindustan Copper Ltd.	210,700
  National Aluminium Company Ltd.	-735,250
  Page Industries Ltd.	-4,459
  Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.	-28,000

  Data Source: ACE MF, PersonalFN Research

Final words...

As things stand now, SIP investments hitting new high despite overall reducing MF inflows is proof that India growth story is still intact.

The China plus one megatrend is in place while companies have announced massive capex plans.

And don't forget, if capex has to pick up, funding is required. PSU banks including SBI, among others will be big beneficiaries. SBI has already started to pick steam as it beat Reliance in earnings recently.

Meanwhile, if you're worried about reduced MF inflows, think about the FII money coming in. For the past two months, Indian equities have seen strong FII inflows, especially in November and we're only halfway through the month.

How the mutual fund buying and selling trend pans out in the month of November 2022 remains to be seen. We will keep you updated on all the developments from this space.

Stay tuned.

As you're interested in what mutual funds are buying and selling, check out Equitymaster's Indian 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...