August 2025 MF AUM tapers to ₹75.19 Trillion, amid debt fund outflows

15 Sep 2025 , 12:50 PM

BIG STORY – AUGUST INFLOWS EASE AFTER ROBUST JULY

After smart net inflows of ₹1,78,794 Crore in July, the August 2025 MF inflows were relatively subdued at ₹52,443 Crore. Net AUM tapered from ₹75.36 Trillion to ₹75.19 Trillion; a marginal fall. Equity fund inflows in August 2025 fell by -21.7% to ₹33,430 Crore MOM, as tariff uncertainty restricted investor enthusiasm. NFO flows were sharply lower at ₹2,904 Crore in August; compared to ₹30,416 Crore in July 2025. Gross SIP inflows also fell marginally to ₹28,265 Crore. Debt fund outflows were at ₹7,980 Crore.

Within the gamut of equity funds; inflows were dominated by flexi-cap funds, mid-cap funds, and small cap funds. Net inflows into hybrid funds were lower than July at ₹15,614 Crore (including solution funds). Within hybrid funds, the demand appears to be gravitating towards allocation-specific funds. Net flows into passive funds, once again, increased in August to ₹11,437 Crore; led by index ETFs, and followed by Gold ETFs. The shift towards passive looks logical, but this may just be a pause rather than a shift.

MARKET UNCERTAINTY KEEPS AUM GROWTH IN CHECK

Here is a quick look at monthly flows across fund categories in last 13 months.

Month	Debt Fund Flows (₹ Crore)	Equity Fund Flows (₹ Crore)	Hybrid Fund Flows (₹ Crore)	Passive Fund Flows (₹ Crore)	Total MF Flows (₹ Crore)
Aug-24	45,169	38,239	10,233	14,599	1,08,123
Sep-24	(1,13,834)	34,419	5,366	3,254	(71,114)
Oct-24	1,57,402	41,887	17,189	23,428	2,39,907
Nov-24	12,916	35,944	4,443	7,061	60,295
Dec-24	(1,27,153)	41,156	4,703	784	(80,355)
Jan-25	1,28,653	39,688	9,011	10,255	1,87,551
Feb-25	(6,526)	29,303	7,050	10,249	40,063
Mar-25	(2,02,663)	25,082	(705)	14,149	(1,64,435)
Apr-25	2,19,136	24,269	14,248	20,229	2,76,827
May-25	(15,909)	19,013	20,942	5,526	29,108
Jun-25	(1,711)	23,587	23,429	3,997	49,095
Jul-25	1,06,801	42,702	21,162	8,259	1,78,794
Aug-25	(7,980)	33,430	15,614	11,437	52,443

Data Source: AMFI (negative figures in brackets)

In August 2025, equity, hybrid, and passive funds saw robust inflows, while pressure on debt funds was led by liquid funds. Even amidst the uncertainty, the equity demand appears to be biased towards alpha bets like mid-cap funds, small cap funds, and thematic funds. Hybrid funds saw strong contributions from Arbitrage Funds, Multi Asset Allocation Funds, and BAFs. Passive fund inflows bounced further to ₹11,437 Crore, led by index ETFs and gold ETFs. The yellow metal appears to be holding glitter, despite record prices.

HOW THE ₹75.2 TRILLION NET AUM ADDED UP

Here is the AUM break-up as of August 2025; across equity, debt, and alternates.

Month	Debt AUM (₹ Trillion)	Equity AUM (₹ Trillion)	Alternate AUM (₹ Trillion)	Total AUM (₹ Trillion)
Aug-24	16.00	30.09	20.35	66.70
Sep-24	14.97	31.10	20.75	67.09
Oct-24	16.64	29.89	20.46	67.26
Nov-24	16.86	30.36	20.60	68.08
Dec-24	15.67	30.58	20.41	66.93
Jan-25	17.06	29.47	20.46	67.25
Feb-25	17.08	27.40	19.79	64.53
Mar-25	15.21	29.45	20.82	65.74
Apr-25	17.57	30.58	21.59	70.00
May-25	17.54	32.05	22.34	72.20
Jun-25	17.58	33.47	23.10	74.41
Jul-25	18.76	33.28	23.07	75.36
Aug-25	18.71	33.09	23.13	75.19

Data Source AMFI

For August 2025, active debt fund AUM was 16.9% higher yoy at ₹18.71 Trillion. The AUM of equity funds tapered to ₹33.09 Trillion in August 2025, as value depletion offset steady inflows. Equity fund AUM is 10.0% higher yoy. Alternate AUM is marginally up MOM, due to strong flows; but 13.7% higher yoy. Here are the AUM shares.

Month	Active Debt Funds	Active Equity Funds	Hybrid Funds	Passive Funds	Solution Funds	Close-ended Funds
Mar-25	23.13%	44.80%	13.44%	17.45%	0.78%	0.41%
Apr-25	25.10%	43.68%	13.07%	17.02%	0.75%	0.37%
May-25	24.30%	44.40%	13.23%	16.96%	0.76%	0.36%
Jun-25	23.63%	44.98%	13.33%	16.96%	0.75%	0.35%
Jul-25	24.89%	44.16%	13.31%	16.56%	0.74%	0.34%
Aug-25	24.89%	44.00%	13.41%	16.63%	0.73%	0.34%

If you take a 5-month perspective, only active debt funds have gained AUM share, while the other categories are either flat or have seen lower share. This is because, amidst the tariff tantrums, the stock markets have taken a beating and that is reflected in the depletion in equity market values. Debt funds have been immune, except at the short end of the curve.

ACTIVE DEBT FUNDS: A SMALL SELL-OFF

Selling in debt funds was focused at the short end of the yield curve. Debt funds saw net outflows of ₹7,980 Crore in August 2025. Liquid funds dominated outflows at ₹13,350 Crore; followed by Gilt Funds ₹928 Crore, Corporate Bond Funds ₹825 Crore, and Banking & PSU Funds ₹800 Crore. In terms of inflows, overnight funds saw net inflows of ₹4,951 Crore; followed by Money Market Funds at ₹2,211 Crore. There appears to be some scepticism at the longer end that the RBI may think twice about rate cuts in October, just to keep more aces under its sleeve; should the tariff crisis boil over.

ACTIVE EQUITY FUNDS: LOOKS LIKE ALPHA HUNTING ONCE AGAIN

In August 2025, equity funds saw record net inflows of ₹33,430 Crore; with all categories other than Dividend Yield Funds seeing positive inflows. Big drivers of inflows into equity funds were Multi-Cap / Flexi-Cap Funds ₹10,872 Crore, Mid-Cap Funds ₹5,331 Crore, Small Cap Funds ₹4,992 Crore, Sectoral / Thematic Funds ₹3,893 Crore, Large & Mid-Cap funds ₹3,326 Crore, and Large Cap Funds ₹2,835 Crore. While risk-on saw a comeback, large cap funds was a prominent category that saw higher flows in August 2025.

HYBRID FLOWS ROBUST; PASSIVE SEES A BOUNCE

After strong inflows of over ₹20K Crore in the last 2 months, hybrid fund net inflows were relatively sober at ₹15,614 Crore in August 2025. Hybrid net inflows were dominated by Arbitrage Funds at ₹6,667 Crore; followed by Multi-Asset Allocation Funds at ₹3,528 Crore, BAFs at ₹2,316 Crore, and Aggressive Hybrids ₹1,870 Crore. All categories of hybrid funds saw net inflows in August 2025; with the allocation theme dominating.

In the passive category; inflows were dominated by Index ETFs ₹7,244 Crore followed by Gold ETFs at ₹2,190 Crore, and Index Funds at ₹1,503 Crore. Net inflows into overseas fund of funds (FOFs) picked up momentum after a long time. The month has clearly shown investor preference for the passive category.

August 2025 flows were slightly subdued due to uncertainty. However, due to the string of holidays in late August, some of the demand may have spilt over to September. We will get a clearer picture of that only when the September AMFI data is out!