Long-term bond funds and gilt funds were subdued during the month due to inflationary concerns, even as equity mutual funds ended in positive territory in April.

According to Crisil FundServices, a fund evaluation and risk solutions provider for mutual funds, the return of buoyancy to the equity markets and liquid fund inflows saw all mutual fund indices ending in positive territory during April.

The upbeat equity markets saw the Crisil Fund-eX, which tracks diversified equity funds return 8.04 per cent during the month followed by Crisil Fund-bX, that monitors balanced funds, was up by 5.82 per cent, it added.

However, "the returns on long-term bond funds and gilt funds were subdued as prices on longer bonds and gilts fell during the month due to inflationary concerns," Crisil FundServices Head Krishnan Sitaraman said.

Among debt oriented categories, the Crisil MIPEX, which is used as a benchmark for monthly income plans posted returns of 1.68 per cent due to its equity edge, while Crisil STBEX, used as the benchmark for Short-Term Bond Funds, gave a monthly return of 0.82 per cent, Crisil said.

Crisil-LX, that tracks Liquid Funds, posted 0.66 per cent returns, while Crisil Fund-dX, the Long-Term Bond Funds index gave returns of 0.42 per cent and the Crisil MF-Gilt Index gave 0.20 per cent returns, it added.

The combined assets under management of all the fund houses soared to Rs 5,65,441.03 crore at the end of April, against Rs 5,28,857.07 crore in the previous month.

All, except seven fund houses, registered increases in their average AUM in April, Crisil added.