Kolkata: Reports state that equity mutual funds are sitting on a pile of cash. The cumulative amount stood at Rs 2.15 lakh crore — a new peak — in April 2025. Usually equity mutual funds, which should be investing cash in equity, sitting on big amounts of cash perhaps indicates a rather cautious sentiment amid volatility and uncertainty in the market.
Reports stated that while overall cash levels in equity MFs stood at 5.7% in November last year, it rose quickly to 7% in April of this year. The biggest AMC in the country SBI MF reportedly has 10% allocation in cash. But do you know which are the top 10 equity funds in the country in term of allocation in cash? Can you think of an equity mutual fund scheme having nearly 50% of its resources in cash? Kolkata-based investment advisory firm myplexus has worked out the list which is bound to raise eyebrows.
Which are the top 10 equity MF schemes
- Samco Large Cap Fund: Percentage allocated 49.20, Amount Rs 5.71 cr
- Samco Multi Cap Fund: Percentage allocated 46.47, Amount Rs 159.06 cr
- Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund: Percentage allocated 32.10, Amount Rs 8,017.46 cr
- Motilal Oswal Flexicap Fund: Percentage allocated 28.32, Amount Rs 3,386.60 cr
- Motilal Oswal Multi Cap Fund: Percentage allocated 21.42, Amount Rs 689.76 cr
- SBI Contra Fund: Percentage allocated 21.04, Amount Rs 8,682.53 cr
- SBI Small Cap Fund: Percentage allocated 20.26, Amount Rs 6,225.86 cr
- Tauras ELSS Tax Saver Fund: Percentage allocated 15.40, Amount Rs 11.65 cr
- Quantum Small Cap Fund: Percentage allocated 14.84, Amount Rs 15.28 cr
- Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund: Percentage allocated 14.08, Amount Rs 12,594.60 cr
Comforting for conservative investors
“One primary implication of a high percentage of allocation in cash is that the fund manager thinks that going forward he/she will get better opportunities of investing the money and that’s why he/she hasn’t fully invested. Usually equity funds don’t hold more than 5-6% in cash,” said Prasunjit Mukherjee, CEO of myplexus.
“If the market goes on the downslide, funds with a lot of cash holding won’t be impacted too much. But there is a downside and that is if the market goes up, the value of these funds won’t go up to that extent since much of the holding is in cash and not equities. So, if one is a conservative investor, a fund with a significant allocation in cash might be a better product to enter. However, on a personal note, I like funds which are fully invested,” added Mukherjee.
Waiting for the right opportunity
The optimistic outlook for holding cash is that there will be a rush of IPO/OFS (offer for sale) offerings and in such a situation the fund manager can deploy the resources after proper due diligence. The other motivating factor — cushion for volatility — is a rather pessimistic point of view. Some fund managers also wait for the right macro economic climate to deploy the reserves of cash.
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Equity mutual funds are sitting on piles of cash. The extent of allocation of a mutual fund in cash holds a lot of significance for investors. Do you know which are the top 10 equity MF schemes in India in terms of cash allocation? Check the list drawn up by myplexus. Personal Finance Business News – Personal Finance News, Share Market News, BSE/NSE News, Stock Exchange News Today
