Assets under management (AUM) of passive funds rose to ₹14.77 lakh crore in May 2026, even as the industry recorded net outflows of ₹402 crore, according to the NSE Nifty Passive Insight report.
The report said passive equity funds remained the main driver of the industry, attracting net inflows of ₹9,488 crore during the month. Equity ETFs received ₹6,692 crore, while equity index funds saw inflows of ₹2,796 crore, highlighting continued investor preference for equity-based passive products. However, market volatility limited the impact of these inflows on overall assets.
Equity ETF AUM declined to ₹7.81 lakh crore in May from ₹7.85 lakh crore in April, as market losses offset fresh investments. Debt passive funds, on the other hand, saw net outflows of ₹7,037 crore. Debt ETFs accounted for ₹5,179 crore of the withdrawals, with their AUM falling to ₹0.93 lakh crore from ₹0.98 lakh crore in April.
Debt index funds also reported outflows of ₹1,858 crore. Their AUM eased to ₹0.95 lakh crore from ₹0.96 lakh crore in the previous month.
According to the report, the recent outflows reflect short-term pressure. It added that tax relief for foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) investing in government securities is expected to improve post-tax returns and support future inflows.
Commodity passive funds also witnessed outflows of ₹2,858 crore. Silver ETFs saw withdrawals of ₹2,133 crore, while gold ETFs recorded outflows of ₹725 crore. Despite this, higher prices helped raise AUM to ₹0.86 lakh crore for silver ETFs and ₹1.85 lakh crore for gold ETFs.
Investor folios declined marginally to 5.47 crore in May from 5.48 crore in April. At the same time, the number of passive schemes increased to 701 from 690.
The industry launched 12 new passive schemes during the month, including six ETFs and six index funds. Of these, 10 were equity-based. The total number of passive schemes stood at 368 index funds and 333 ETFs.
The report said that despite asset-class-specific fluctuations in flows, stable AUM, new product launches and continued investor participation reflect the growing importance of passive investing in India’s investment landscape.