Gold ETFs record Rs 900 crore outflow in 2015; AUM down 20%

New Delhi: Investors continued to pull out money from gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) last year and withdrew close to Rs 900 crore, shrinking asset base of such products by around 20 percent.

It also marked the third consecutive year of outflow from gold ETFs. The pace of outflow slowed, however, in 2015 compared with the preceding two years on account of sluggish equity market trends, experts said.

The gold ETFs saw net outflow of Rs 891 crore last year, down from Rs 1,651 crore 2014, the latest data available with the Association of Mutual Funds in India (Amfi) showed. In 2013, the outflow stood at Rs 1,815 crore.

Gold ETFs saw an inflow of Rs 1,826 crore in 2012.

Last year, retail investors put in more money into equity and debt mutual funds. Equity and equity-linked saving schemes saw an infusion of over Rs 90,000 crore and debt funds attracted about Rs 35,000 crore.

Overall, mutual fund schemes have witnessed an inflow of Rs 1.77 lakh crore.

Of late, gold ETFs have been losing sheen as gold prices are correcting.

The outflow pulled down the asset base of gold funds to Rs 5,773 crore in December last year, from Rs 7,188 crore at the end of December 2014.

The mutual fund sector has 14 gold-based schemes, which have been in the market since 2006-07.