Mumbai: A sharp rally in gold and silver prices drew unprecedented investor interest in gold and silver exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January, collectively attracting ₹33,503 crore in net inflows, surpassing total equity mutual fund inflows of ₹24,013 crore for the month, according to the latest AMFI data. Gold ETF alone saw inflows worth ₹24,050 crore, which was nearly double of December’s ₹11,647 crore while silver ETFs recorded a ₹9,463 crore inflow.
Gold prices in India had touched an all time high mark of Rs 17885 per gram on January 29 followed by a steep correction in prices of gold and silver in the last 10 days. The yellow metal has delivered a whopping 60 per cent return in 2025 while silver has given a return of 145 per cent.
Viraj Gandhi, chief executive officer at SAMCO Mutual Fund said, “Compared to their average collections over the preceding 12 months, gold and silver ETFs saw record inflows, and multi-asset schemes also saw this phenomenon.”
“With the exception of flexi cap schemes, all actively managed equity schemes displayed a significant slowing in collections. Due to high valuations, sluggish corporate results, uncertainty that prevailed surrounding trade agreements with the US in January 2026, currency depreciation, and ongoing FII selling, Indian benchmarks (Sensex and Nifty) have recently underperformed the MSCI developing market index by a significant margin of over 20 per cent. In contrast, gold and silver increased by more than 70 per cent and almost 150 per cent in 2025, respectively, and this is seen in the statistics collected for equity plans this month,” added Gandhi.
Equity mutual fund inflows slipped 14 per cent to Rs 24,028 crore in January, compared with Rs 28,054 crore in December 2025. On a year-on-year basis, inflows declined 39 per cent from Rs 39,687 crore in January 2025.
SIP assets stood at Rs 16.36 lakh crore in January 2026, accounting for 20.2 per cent of total mutual fund assets and the inflows into SIPs was muted at Rs 31,002 crore, up from Rs 31,002 crore in the previous month.
Among the 11 sub-categories, flexicap funds continued to attract the most investor interest, recording the highest inflow of Rs 7,672 crore in January 2026. Midcap and large & mid-cap funds followed, with inflows of Rs 3,185 crore and Rs 3,181 crore, respectively.
The month saw a sharp reversal in debt fund flows, with inflows of nearly ₹75,000 crore after two months of heavy outflows signalling improving comfort around yields and near-term liquidity conditions. In November and December 2025, the debt fund category had seen total outflows of Rs 1.58 lakh crore. Hybrid funds saw monthly inflows rise 61 per cent to Rs 17,356 crore in January from Rs 10,755 crore in December. Liquid funds and money market funds recorded inflows of Rs 30,681 crore and Rs 12,763 crore, respectively, in January.