Investment in equity mutual funds fell 14.4 percent to an 11-month low, impact of trade war

Investment in equity mutual funds decreased by 14.4 percent on a sequential basis to an 11-month low of Rs 25,082.01 crore in March 2025 due to the chaos in the stock markets during the tariff war. The lowest investment of Rs 22,633 crore was earlier made in March 2024. Even with a fall, March is the 49th straight month when the investment in the category persists. This is the third straight fall in equity mutual fund investment, according to the data made public by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) on Friday. Investors had invested Rs 41,156 crore in the category in December 2024, which came down to Rs 39,687 crore in January and Rs 29,303 crore in February.

Investment in mutual funds through Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) declined marginally to Rs 25,926 crore in March 2025. This is the lowest level in four months after November 2024. At that time, Rs 25,320 crore was invested in SIP. In February 2025, this figure was Rs 25,999 crore.

The total number of SIP accounts in March declined to 8.11 crore from 8.26 crore in February. This means that about 15 lakh SIP accounts were closed last month. More than 40.18 lakh new SIP accounts have also been registered during this period.

Among the equity categories, flexi-cap funds received the highest investment of Rs 5,615 crore. Small-cap funds received Rs 4,092 crore, mid-cap funds received Rs 3,439 crore, and multi-cap funds received Rs 2,753 crore. Large-midcap funds received Rs 2,718 crore. Sectoral funds, which received the highest investment of Rs 5,712 crore in February, saw people invest only Rs 170 crore in March.