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Below the Comment on AMFI August 2026 by Shashwat Singh, Fundamental Analyst, Bajaj Broking

In August 2026, the headline indices fell. The Nifty 50 lost 1.2 per cent and the Sensex 1.5 per cent, ending a two-month winning run, and in the past a month like that has usually shown up as thinner mutual fund inflows. It didn't this time, and the easy reading is that investors held their nerve and bought a falling market. The reason is rather more interesting than that, and worth getting right.

The industry closed August with Rs87.08 lakh crore in assets on net inflows of Rs41,354 crore, of which open-ended equity schemes took Rs29,329 crore, lifting equity assets to Rs39.21 lakh crore. SIP contributions hit a record Rs32,297 crore, up from Rs31,961 crore in July and about 14 per cent above the Rs28,265 crore collected in August 2025, taking five-month collections past Rs1.58 lakh crore. Within equity, small cap funds drew Rs7,973 crore and mid cap funds Rs6,989 crore, together just over half of all equity inflows, with flexi cap adding Rs5,059 crore. At the other end, large cap funds saw a net outflow of Rs1,147 crore and ELSS Rs1,078 crore. Thematic and sector funds took in only Rs1,766 crore across 193 schemes, new launches were modest at Rs7,110 crore across 26 NFOs, hybrid schemes added Rs10,045 crore led by arbitrage and multi-asset, and gold and silver ETFs drew Rs3,867 crore. Average AUM for the month, at Rs88.31 lakh crore, ran Rs1.23 lakh crore above the closing figure, a reminder that the market slipped in the back half of August.

The Nifty Midcap 100 rose 2.08% per cent in August and the Nifty Smallcap 100 3.22 per cent, a fifth straight month of gains. The scramble into narrow, story-driven funds has cooled, and the flows into hybrids and precious metals suggest some money is being set aside as a cushion rather than simply chasing performance. The record SIP number, in the end, is the least interesting fact here. What matters more is the shape of the line, which has risen in a narrow band for months with none of the slowdown many expected after two strong years.

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