Equity mutual fund inflows marginally fell 3.6 per cent on a monthly basis to Rs 39,687.78 crore in January, data released by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) said.
After January, net inflows into open-ended equity funds stayed in the positive zone for the 47th month in a row.
Earlier, open-ended equity mutual fund inflows had jumped 14.5 per cent to Rs 41,155.91 crore in December, as thematic/sectoral and small-cap funds saw higher investments.
Data said that in the equity fund category, inflows into smallcap funds jumped 22.6 per cent to Rs 5,720.87 crore, while midcap funds saw a marginal rise to Rs 5,147.87 crore.
Net investments into large-cap funds surged 52.3 per cent to Rs 3,063.33 crore.
Inflows into Sectoral/Thematic Funds plunged 41.2 per cent to Rs 9,016.60 crore on a fall in several new fund offers launched during the month. Mutual funds mopped up Rs 2,838 crore via three Sectoral/Thematic Funds during January.
AMFI data showed that in the fixed-income category, debt mutual funds saw net inflows of Rs 1,28,652.58 crore in January against net outflows of Rs 1,27,152.63 crore in December.
The Liquid Fund category saw higher inflows at Rs 91,592.92 crore, followed by Rs 21,915.53 crore investments into Money Market Funds.
Short Duration Fund and Gilt Fund segments saw net outflows of Rs 2,066.19 crore and Rs 1,359.66 crore, respectively.
Overall, open-ended mutual funds saw net inflows of Rs 1,87,606.23 crore in January against net outflows of Rs 80,509.20 crore in December.