Mumbai, November 8: The Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) said monetary contributions by the Systematic Investment Plans or SIPs to the MFs industry saw a marginal dip in October as compared to September.

SIP investments climbed down to Rs 8,246 crore in October, AMFI said.

Besides, SIPs also saw their Assets Under Management (AUM) cross Rs 3 lakh crore mark. AMFI CEO N S Venkatesh described SIP crossing Rs 3 lakh crore mark as “an inflection point” which according to him was “a positive sign”.

“SIP AUM crossing the Rs 3 lakh crore landmark for the first time ever and the continual rise in SIP accounts are a positive reflection of disciplined approach adopted by the retail investor fraternity,” he said.

He said AMFI expects equity markets to perform better in the coming quarters, as the positive impact of government initiatives trickles down in the economy, driving further inflows in mutual funds.

Apart from that the mutual funds industry also saw a decline in the net fund flow to the equity mutual funds schemes.

According to the AMFI data, the net fund flow dipped to Rs 6,026 crore from September’s Rs 6,609 crore, a fall of 8.8 per cent, which according to Venkatesh was not a significant drop but a sustainable fall.

The AMFI chief went on to suggest equity funds will continue to do well as the equity markets were doing extremely well over the past few weeks.

The AMFI expects good numbers in the coming months as the US and China are very close to clinching a deal on trade and tariff. Also positive global macro-economic numbers are also expected to boost the MF industry.

G Pradeepkumar, CEO, Union Asset Management Company, said, “The SIP flows have remained robust even in the face of continued volatility in the market which augurs well for the mutual fund industry as well for the broader markets.

It is also encouraging that there has been about 65 per cent increase in the number of new SIPs added.”

He further explained that arbitrage funds as a category seem to be continuing to attract investor attention probably on account of their relatively stable returns and tax efficiency.

The AMFI data also disclosed that total AUM of mutual funds industry rose to Rs 26.32 lakh crore in October from Rs 24.50 lakh crore in September, which is a Rs 1.33 lakh crore or 7.4 per cent growth.

Liquid funds saw huge inflow at Rs 93,202.96 crore, which has been touted by experts as biggest driver for the recorded growth.