In a first for India, investments in gold Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) in January were greater than inflows into equity-oriented mutual funds, showed data from the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) released Tuesday.
This underscores the surge in demand for the yellow metal as an investment option, as gold prices continue to hit new highs. According to the AMFI data, inflows into gold ETFs — MFs that invest in gold — more than doubled in January from December 2025 to an all-time high of Rs 24,040 crore — a third straight monthly rise as investors bet that prices will continue to rise.
Gold prices have already doubled in the last one year on safe-haven demand amid a weakening US dollar, robust buying from central banks globally, and a turbulent geoeconomic and geopolitical environment. Silver, which has seen its price rise at an even faster clip, saw net inflows into its ETFs amounting to Rs 9,463 crore, taking the total assets under management (AUM) of these funds to Rs 1.17 lakh crore as at the end of January. The AUM of gold ETFs stood at Rs 1.84 lakh crore.
In contrast, inflows into equity-oriented MFs fell for the third straight month in January, dropping 14% from December to Rs 24,029 crore. While this reflects the sobering performance of the equity markets — the benchmark Nifty 50 fell around 3% during the month — investors have also been diverting money away from equity MFs to gold ETFs. Compared to January 2025, net inflows into gold ETFs last month were almost seven times higher, while equity inflows were down 39%, according to AMFI data.
Among equity-oriented funds, all but four categories saw lower net inflows in January from December, with large- and mid-cap, mid-cap, small-cap, and flexi-cap funds all seeing over 20% lower net inflows. Large-cap funds were one of the few outliers, with inflows rising 28% to Rs 2,005 crore. Focused and sectoral funds were the other sequential gainers.
A Balasubramanian, MD & CEO, Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC Ltd, said, “The recent rise in gold and silver has led to a sharp increase in demand for gold and silver ETFs as investors look for different avenues to gain exposure to precious metals. However, equities continue to remain the preferred asset class for investment from a long-term wealth creation point of view.”
The AUM of equity funds stood at Rs 34.87 lakh crore as on January 31.
On the whole, inflows through Systematic Investment Plans, or SIPs, were unchanged in January at Rs 31,002 crore, while the number of SIP accounts increased to 10.29 crore from 10.11 crore in December.
At a time when foreign investors have pulled out to the tune of billions of dollars from Indian markets, purchases by domestic institutional investors such as mutual funds have been vital. In January, Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPIs) net sold nearly Rs 36,000 crore — or $4 billion — of Indian equities. However, they have returned in droves in February, snapping up more than Rs 15,000 crore ($1.7 billion) worth of shares so far this month, buoyed by a turnaround in sentiment after the announcement of reduction in US tariff on Indian goods to 18% from 50%.
In 2025, FPIs had net sold Indian equities worth Rs 1.66 lakh crore, or almost $19 billion.
Investors have also been shifting away from debt mutual funds. While these funds saw inflows of Rs 74,827 crore in January – up from a net outflow of Rs 1.32 lakh crore in December 2025 – it was down 42 per cent from the year-ago figure of Rs 1.29 lakh crore.
“The reversal largely reflects post year-end cash redeployment as corporate and institutional investors reinvest surplus balances that were temporarily drawn down in December,” said Nehal Meshram, senior analyst, Morningstar Investment Research India.
The recovery was overwhelmingly led by the liquidity segment. Overnight funds attracted Rs 46,280 crore, while liquid funds saw Rs 30,682 crore of inflows. Money market funds also gathered a healthy Rs 12,763 crore, supported by attractive short-end carry and renewed parking demand.
Hybrid funds witnessed a surge of over 61 per cent to Rs 17,356 crore, as against Rs 10,756 crore a month earlier. The net AUM of debt funds was up 11 per cent year-on-year at Rs 18.9 lakh crore as at the end of January.
According to the AMFI data, inflows into gold ETFs — MFs that invest in gold — more than doubled in January from December 2025. 
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