These MFs gained the most in AUM after 2020 market crash

Last Updated on June 23, 2021 at 10:27 am

This is a list of mutual funds that gained the most in AUM after the March 2020 market crash.  To ensure we account for the fund inflow and not the fund returns, we compare the NAV and AUM on March 31st 2020 and May 31st 2021 and subtract the percentage change in NAV from the percentage change in AUM.

Among the top 15 funds, Parag Parikh Flexicap Fund is the only fund with an AUM of more than 125 Crores as of March 31st 2020. It’s AUM grew from Rs. 2448 Crores to 10,276 Crores in May 2021.

This is a 320% increase. If we discount the NAV increase of 98.6% during this period, the AUM has increased by about 221%, equivalent to an approximate inflow of about Rs. 5,400 crores. This is the fifth-highest increase in inflow.

About 46 mutual funds saw an increase in the inflow of at least Rs. 1000 cores during this period. These are the top 15. The SBI ETF inflow might be dominated by EPFO funds. The arbitrage fund aum might be from those who wish to wait out the volatility (need to see when the AUM increased the most in 2020 or 2021).

1. SBI-ETF Sensex Rs 11243 Crores (approx inflow)
2. Axis Bluechip Fund Rs. 9816 Crores
3. Kotak Equity Arbitrage Fund Rs. 9242 Crores
4. Tata Arbitrage Fund Rs. 5667 Crores
5. Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund Rs. 5414 Crores
6. SBI-ETF Nifty 50 Rs. 5088 Crores
7. Nippon India Arbitrage Fund Rs. 4672 Crores
8. UTI-Sensex ETF Rs. 4558 Crores
9. SBI Focused Equity Fund Rs. 4048 Crores
10. Kotak Balanced Advantage Fund Rs. 3997 Crores
11. L&T Arbitrage Opp Fund Rs. 3958 Crores
12. Axis Midcap Fund Rs. 3932 Crores
13. ICICI Pru Equity-Arbitrage Fund Rs. 3856 Crores
14. UTI Flexi Cap Fund Rs. 3240 Crores
15. Aditya Birla SL Arbitrage Fund Rs. 3116 Crores

PGIM India Midcap Opp Fund saw the biggest inflow among funds with at least Rs. 100 crores AUM as of March 31st 2020. Its AUM increased by 1212.43%, NAV by  141.77% and effective inflow by 1070.67% or about Rs. 1317 Crores.  These are the top 15 funds with at least Rs. 100 Crores as of March 2020.

If we remove the restriction of min AUM, the list is dominated by Quant mutual funds as we have recently discussed: Quant Active Fund Review. However, the actual inflow is small relative to established funds.

As a viewer pointed out on our Youtube channel, are these choices (particularly the low AUM funds) determined by recommendations from the direct plan and regular plan robo advisory portals? Food for thought!