Passive flows taper in Oct-25, but gold and silver ETFs shine

13 Nov 2025 , 04:15 PM

PASSIVE FLOW HIGHLIGHTS FOR OCTOBER 2025

Passive inflows have progressively grown in last 4 months; although it did taper from the September highs. Passive fund flows had spiked from ₹8,259 Crore in July to ₹11,437 Crore in August and further to ₹19,057 Crore in September. However, October 2025 saw passive inflows tapering to ₹16,669 Crore. The action in October was dominated by inflows into Gold ETFs and Silver ETFs, although index ETFs and index funds also chipped in.

In terms of flows; Gold ETFs led the way with ₹7,743 Crore in October 2025; followed by Silver ETFs at ₹3,412 Crore, Equity Index ETFs at ₹2,572 Crore, and Equity Index Funds at ₹2,467 Crore. Some of the passive categories that saw outflows in October 2025 included Debt Oriented TMIFs and FOFs investing overseas in passive funds. Out of the 12 categories of passive funds with flows; 8 categories saw net inflows in October 2025, while 4 categories saw net outflows.

EQUITY INDEX ETFS AND INDEX FUNDS IN OCTOBER 2025

The equity index ETFs and index funds are ranked on 5-year returns

Equity Index Funds Scheme Name	1-Year (%) Returns	3-Year (%) Returns	5-Year (%) Returns
Nippon India ETF Nifty PSU Bank BEES	20.88	30.41	42.56
Kotak Nifty PSU Bank ETF	20.87	30.43	42.50
CPSE ETF	1.12	34.36	39.11
BHARAT 22 ETF	2.86	27.32	32.98
Motilal Oswal Nifty Midcap 100 ETF	8.69	25.02	27.94
ICICI Prudential Nifty Midcap 150 ETF	7.60	23.62	27.17
Nippon India ETF Nifty Midcap 150	7.48	23.56	27.15
Motilal Oswal Nifty Smallcap 250 Index Fund	-2.77	21.23	26.49
Nippon India Nifty Smallcap 250 Index Fund	-3.49	20.83	26.23
Motilal Oswal Nifty Midcap 150 Index Fund	6.74	22.71	26.04
Top-10 Average	7.00	25.95	31.82

Data Source: AMFI India

The average of the top-10 equity index ETFs and index funds are dominated by some very interesting themes. PSU bank ETFs have been the starts of the last 5 years, while the other themes are mid-caps and small caps. Measures like the Make in India and in-sourcing appear to have helped PSU companies outperform the market.  In terms of AMCs, Motilal Oswal AMC and Nippon India AMC are among the prominent winners in this category. Average returns of the top-10 are quite robust for 3-year and 5-year periods; although the 5-year returns may have been influenced by the low COVID base.

NON-EQUITY PASSIVE ETFS AND PASSIVE FUNDS IN OCTOBER 2025

The table ranks non-equity passives over a 5-year period.

Equity Index Funds Scheme Name	1 Year (%) Returns	3Year (%) Returns	5-Year (%) Returns
LIC MF Gold Exchange Traded Fund	60.88	32.73	19.19
Invesco India Gold Exchange Traded Fund	59.87	32.15	18.78
UTI Gold Exchange Traded Fund	60.69	32.54	18.71
Axis Gold ETF Fund	59.35	31.85	18.65
ICICI Prudential Gold ETF	59.53	31.93	18.63
Aditya Birla Sun Life Gold ETF	59.49	31.86	18.60
Kotak Gold ETF Fund	59.32	31.83	18.57
HDFC Gold ETF	59.41	31.81	18.54
SBI Gold ETF	59.17	31.69	18.49
Quantum Gold Fund	59.20	31.82	18.49
Top-10 Average	59.69	32.02	18.66

Data Source: AMFI India

There are no prizes for guessing and even the flows are in sync. Gold ETFs have literally dominated the non-equity passives, with all 10 being gold ETFs or gold funds. Gold has given phenomenal average returns of 59.69% in the last one year, but what is really material is that gold has given 18.66% CAGR over 5 years. That makes gold a good long-term story over the longer term too. Probably, once the COVID base impact is neutralized, gold may be able to match up or even beat returns on equity index funds. More importantly, the correlation is very low in case of gold funds, which makes them low-risk in terms of fund selection.

PASSIVE FUND FOLIO GROWTH: OCTOBER 2025 OVER OCTOBER 2024

Passive funds folio growth slackened in recent months, but only marginally.

Passive Mutual Fund Schemes (Folios)	Folios OCT-25 (in Numbers)	Folios OCT-24 (in Numbers)	Growth (%)
Silver ETF	25,29,263	4,46,557	466.39%
Equity oriented ETFs (International)	10,45,458	6,08,734	71.74%
Gold ETF	95,75,399	59,13,163	61.93%
Debt Oriented Index Funds (Ex-TMIF)	25,412	17,746	43.20%
FOFs investing overseas in Active Funds	10,01,910	7,24,724	38.25%
Equity oriented Index Funds (Domestic)	1,36,25,691	1,13,77,247	19.76%
Equity oriented ETFs (Domestic)	1,67,53,296	1,42,75,535	17.36%
Other Index Funds	1,02,350	87,572	16.88%
Debt Oriented ETFs	25,31,720	22,91,835	10.47%
Debt Oriented Index Funds (TMIF)	1,76,847	1,65,995	6.54%
Equity oriented Index Funds (International)	2,49,140	2,54,613	-2.15%
FOFs investing overseas in Passive Funds	5,57,079	6,59,366	-15.51%
Total (Passive Funds)	4,81,73,565	3,68,23,087	30.82%

Data Source: AMFI (TMIF is target maturity index funds)

Here are some key inferences from yoy growth in passive folios.

• Passive fund folios grew 30.82% in October 2025; compared to 31.14% in September, 32.58% in August, and 36.01% in July 2025. There has been a gradual tapering of folio growth, but passive funds have done better than active funds on folio accretion. Total passive fund folios as of October 2025 stood at 481.74 lakhs; compared to 459.77 Lakhs I September, 446.55 Lakhs in August, and 437.70 Lakhs in July 2025. The spike in folios has been largely led by the folios increase in gold ETFs and Silver ETFs.
• What about growth leaders? Again, silver ETFs led folio growth at 446.39%, followed by equity oriented International ETFs 71.74%, Gold ETFs 61.93%, and Debt oriented index funds (non-TMIF) at 43.20%. A total of 10 out of 12 categories saw folio expansion, with international equity-oriented index funds and FOFs investing in overseas passive funds witnessing folio contraction in October 2025.

Annual folio growth has fallen from above 50% to closer to 30% in last 8 months.

PASSIVE FUNDS AUM: OCTOBER 2025 OVER OCTOBER 2024

Passive fund AUM growth in October 2025 improved sharply on the back of a surge in the AUM of gold and silver ETFs, as well as robust equity markets; in India and abroad.

Passive Mutual Fund Schemes	AUM OCT-25 (₹ Crore)	AUM OCT-24 (₹ Crore)	Growth (%)
Silver ETF	42,537.46	12,331.00	244.96%
Gold ETF	1,02,119.87	44,545.22	129.25%
FOFs investing overseas in Active Funds	26,811.56	17,451.28	53.64%
Equity oriented ETFs (International)	17,551.79	12,459.60	40.87%
Equity oriented Index Funds (Domestic)	2,03,514.41	1,52,701.53	33.28%
Equity oriented Index Funds (International)	6,755.46	5,173.22	30.59%
Equity oriented ETFs (Domestic)	7,51,302.18	6,60,072.55	13.82%
FOFs investing overseas in Passive Funds	9,279.30	8,366.11	10.92%
Other Index Funds	3,743.90	3,489.50	7.29%
Debt Oriented Index Funds (TMIF)	99,141.47	92,728.79	6.92%
Debt Oriented ETFs	97,007.49	98,036.94	-1.05%
Debt Oriented Index Funds (Ex-TMIF)	6,920.69	13,731.02	-49.60%
Total (Passive Funds)	13,66,685.58	11,21,086.76	21.91%

Data Source: AMFI (TMIF is target maturity index funds)

Here are some key inferences from the above table.

• Passive fund AUM yoy growth in October 2025 jumped to 21.91%; compared to 13.40% in September, 11.54% in August, and 13.97% in July 2025. The sharp bounce in the folio growth in October 2025 has been largely driven by a surge in retail demand for gold ETFs and silver ETFs. However, this may not be sustainable.
• What about leaders and laggards? Silver ETFs led the growth at 244.96%, followed by Gold ETFs at 129.25%, and FOFs investing overseas in active funds at 53.64%. A total of 10 out of 12 categories saw AUM expansion, with ex-TMIF debt-oriented index funds and debt index ETFs; again, witnessing AUM contraction in October 2025.

While the folio growth of passive funds in October 2025 has been sharply better, it is largely due to the impact of the big demand for gold and silver ETFs. That may be a passing phase.