Significant Insights, Value Orientation and Differences Between the Mutual Fund Investment Flow and Indian Stock Market Returns – A Theoretical Assimilation

Abstract

Researchers and academicians from all over the world have become interested in the study of the causal relationship between mutual fund investment flow and stock market returns in recent years. But there is currently a contradictory body of empirical data on this matter. Additionally, there are a few studies that take the case of India into account. In order to better understand the dynamics of the relationship between mutual fund investment flow and stock market returns in India from January 2000 to May 2010, the following article will do just that. The Granger causality tests are applied using the Toda and Yamamoto approach, which yields evidence of a one-way causal relationship between stock market returns and mutual fund investment flow. This suggests that the expansion of stock market activity in India draws mutual funds to the stock market. Therefore, the government and monetary authorities should take the necessary actions to reduce the volatility and increase the efficiency of the capital market. By gathering money from households and investing it in the stock and debt markets, mutual funds enable portfolio diversification and relative risk aversion. In India, a specific type of mutual fund called fixed-income funds invests in debt securities that have been issued by businesses, banks, or the government. In India, fixed-income funds are also referred to as debt funds and income funds. The goal of the current study is to assess the performance of a few selected debt or income mutual fund schemes in India based on their daily NAV using various statistical measures. In the past ten years, income schemes have become more and more popular. The securities that were purchased are referred to as the fund's portfolio. There may have been restrictions on rival products, which led to the emergence of money market and (short-term) bond funds. In this study, the performance of several mutual fund types in India was compared and studied. The results showed that equities funds outperformed income funds. The study also found that institutional fund managers can time their investments and that equity fund managers have significant market timing ability, but broker operated funds did not demonstrate this ability. Additionally, empirical research has shown that fund managers possess significant timing ability and can time their investments to match market conditions.