Mutual funds increase cash allocation by Rs 18,000 crore to Rs 2.05 lakh crore in March

The cash pile of mutual funds increased by Rs 18,061 crore on a monthly basis, rising from Rs 1.87 lakh crore in February to Rs 2.05 lakh crore in March. The cash allocation as a percentage of total AUM rose from 5.76% in February to 5.86% in March. The total equity AUM in March was recorded at Rs 35.16 lakh crore.

Among the 44 fund houses, six had over Rs 10,000 crore in cash in their portfolios. SBI Mutual Fund, the largest fund house, had the highest cash allocation in March at Rs 38,380 crore, accounting for 5.73% of its total AUM.

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ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund had Rs 26,200 crore cash in its portfolio, followed by HDFC Mutual Fund had Rs 22,474 crore cash in its portfolio which was 6.09% of the total AUM.

PPFAS Mutual Fund had Rs 21,499 crore cash in its portfolio which was 21.86% of the total AUM. Axis Mutual Fund and Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund had Rs 16,682 crore and Rs 2,368 crore cash in their respective portfolios.

Quant Mutual Fund had Rs 8,251 crore in its portfolio followed by Nippon India Mutual Fund which had Rs 7,971 crore cash in March.

Out of 44 fund houses, 22 had less than Rs 1,000 crore cash and eight had less than Rs 100 crore cash. Zerodha Mutual Fund had Rs 0.30 crore cash in its portfolio followed by Angel One Mutual Fund which is a new entrant in the market. The fund house had 0.12 crore cash in its portfolio.

Based on the percentage terms, six mutual funds had more than 10% cash allocation as a percentage of AUM. PPFAS Mutual Fund had the highest cash allocation as a percentage of AUM which was 21.86%, followed by WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund whose cash allocation was 15.01% of the total AUM.

Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund had cash allocation 14.83%, followed by Samco Mutual Fund which had cash allocation of 11.12% of the total AUM. Quantum Mutual Fund and Quant Mutual Fund which had cash allocation of 10.93% and 10.30% respectively as a percentage of AUM.

The cash allocation as a percentage of total AUM was lowest by Zerodha Mutual Fund of 0.03%.

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SBI Mutual Fund had the highest equity AUM of Rs 6.31 lakh crore in March, followed by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund which had an equity AUM of Rs 3.86 lakh crore in the same period. HDFC Mutual Fund had the equity AUM of Rs 3.46 crore in the said period.

Shriram Mutual Fund and Angel One Mutual Fund had the lowest equity AUM of Rs 356 crore and Rs 47.68 crore respectively. Note, Angel One Mutual Fund is a new entrant in the mutual fund industry.

On a yearly basis, the cash allocation by mutual funds went up by Rs 72,842 crore from Rs 1.33 lakh crore in March 2024 to Rs 2.05 lakh crore in March 2025.

Fund managers are allowed to keep a part of their portfolio in cash to meet events like redemptions or make investments when they see a possible opportunity in the market.

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