A large number of schemes of top mutual fund houses have outperformed the benchmark indices for the first six months of the calendar year 2012 ending June 30 despite volatile equities.
About 68% or 284 out of a total of 417 equity funds outperformed the benchmark BSE Sensex, which gave returns of 12.78% for the said period, according to data compiled by Value Research, a firm that tracks mutual funds. Additionally, an analysis of 50 schemes with assets under management (AUM) of more than R1,000 crore shows that 39 schemes have beaten Sensex returns. ?The outperformance once again underlines the merits of active fund management, which can give a kicker to your portfolio,? said the deputy CEO of a large fund house.
Of the 417 equity funds, 53 schemes gave returns of more than 20% in absolute terms. HSBC Midcap Equity, Reliance Banking ETF, UTI Banking Sector Reg and ICICI Prudential Banking and Financial Services Ret emerged the top performers, with returns in excess of 30% each. Nine banking sector funds gave returns in excess of 25%. Nine schemes gave negative returns in absolute terms, with Birla Sun Life Commodity Equities ? Global Precious Metals and AIG World Gold emerging as the worst performers.
Reliance Banking Fund ? Growth topped the list of schemes with an AUM in excess of R1,000 crore, with returns of 28.35%. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund ? Growth (25.12%), ICICI Prudential Discovery Fund ? Growth (23.87%), Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund ? Growth (23.82%) and IDFC Sterling Equity Fund ? Growth (23.76%) made up the list of top 5 schemes. The top three fund houses dominated the list of winners, with 14 of the top 20 performers in the list belonging to Reliance MF, HDFC MF and ICICI Prudential MF. UTI Dividend Yield Fund ? Growth was the worst performer (10.83%) in this group.
Interestingly, equity funds have seen inflows in only one out of the first five months for which data is available. The category saw inflows of R506 crore in the month of May, after four consecutive months of outflows in January (R456 crore), February (R2,680 crore), March (R196 crore) and April (R455 crore), according to data from mutual fund industry body Amfi. Since August 2009, when entry loads were withdrawn by capital market regulator Sebi, equity schemes have seen inflows in only thirteen months.
Indian equities rallied in the first three months of the year on the back of sustained inflows from overseas investors. The Sensex clocked returns of 12.6% in the January-March period, with the index touching a high of 18,428 on February 21. However, the index returned just 0.15% in the next three months. Foreign institutional investors pumped in about $8.4 billion in the first six months of the year.