After witnessing heavy inflows in July and August, mutual funds lost favour last month as investors pulled out over Rs 1.44 lakh crore, the highest monthly outflow so far this fiscal.

The combined net outflow from the 36 fund houses stood at Rs 1,44,327 crore in September, as per the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) data.

"The outflow was expected as banks pull out hefty amounts from income schemes at the end of every quarter to meet their liquidity requirements. However, there would be reversal at the end of October," Taurus Mutual Fund Managing Director RK Gupta said.

Total fund inflows in July and August stood at Rs 1,56,352 crore.

So far this financial year, the mutual fund industry witnessed a net inflow of over Rs 3.40 lakh crore, while there have been outflows in two months -- June and September -- totalling over Rs 2.28 lakh crore, the data showed.

Investors had pulled out Rs 83,937 crore in June, while at the end of September investors pulled out Rs 1,44,327 crore, the biggest outflow in a month so far this fiscal.

At the end of September, investors pulled out money from the four major fund schemes -- income, equity, balance and liquid or money market.