New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS): Despite muted equity market performance during the month of December, inflows in open-ended equity funds stayed in the positive zone for the 46th month in a row, industry experts said on Thursday.

Actively managed equity mutual fund inflows saw over 14 per cent monthly growth at Rs 41,155.9 crore in the month of December, the data by the Association of Mutual Funds of India (AMFI) showed.

According to Jatinder Pal Singh, CEO, ITI Mutual Fund, gross inflows into active equity schemes was up 17 per cent in December compared to November, crossing Rs 72,000 crore while net flows were recorded at Rs 41,156 crore.

“This increase can be attributed to the 70 per cent absolute growth in gross inflows into sectoral / thematic equity schemes (Rs. 22,128 crore in December vs Rs 13,133 crore in November), most of which can be attributed to NFOs (12 sectoral/thematic fund NFOs),” said Singh.

Inflows in the large cap category were down by 8 per cent month on month while net flows were down 21 per cent compared to November 2024.

Through the calendar year 2024, Gold ETF category received a net inflow of Rs 11,226 crore compared with the net inflow of Rs 2,920 crore in 2023, which is a surge of a mammoth 284 per cent.

The assets under management of the category also shot up from Rs 27,326 crore in December 2023 to Rs 44,596 crore in December 2024, an increase of 39 per cent.

Akhil Chaturvedi, Executive Director and Chief Business Officer, Motilal Oswal AMC, in December, the Indian mutual fund industry witnessed strong demand for equity funds, particularly small-cap and sectoral/thematic funds, while overall open-ended mutual funds faced net outflows.

“The equity segment was further buoyed by inflows from new fund offers, with passive funds leading the charge. Additionally, small-cap funds saw a notable uptick in demand, although other categories like multi-cap, large-cap, and large and mid-cap funds experienced a decline in investor interest,” he noted.