I-Sec selects top five MFs

Mutual fund schemes Franklin India Prima Plus, HDFC Top-200, Prudential ICICI Power, Reliance Growth and Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Midcap have been selected as top performing schemes by brokerage house ICICI Securities. These schemes have a good performance track record and are also rated by Value Research.

In its latest ranking of the schemes, ICICI Securities said, Franklin India Prima Plus was a well-diversified, large-cap oriented portfolio with low volatility and fairly decent returns.

"The essence of this fund: No flashy returns and no sleepless nights," it said. Launched around the peak of the IPO boom in September 1994, this scheme started off as a stock collector and had nearly 200 stocks by March 1996.

The relentless cleaning of the portfolio took years and the January 2001 portfolio revealed 40 scrips. In November, the fund had around 42 stocks in its portfolio.

HDFC Top 200: The fund concentrates primarily on India's top 200 companies by market capitalisation and, hence, offers a portfolio consisting large-cap, blue chip and highly liquid stocks.

This fund has everything that one looks for in a core fund. Here, the top holdings largely remain concentrated with the allocation to the largest holding regularly crossing 8 per cent of the total assets.

At the sector level, the fund manager generally parks half of the assets under management in three sectors. The portfolio always remains tilted towards one sector. The fund manager regularly commits more than one-fifth of the money to one sector, often technology.

Prudential ICIC Power is among the funds, which have shown resilience while delivering good returns.

The fund has always maintained its exposure to large cap stocks to around 60 per cent for stability. The fund ended 2006 with returns of 49 per cent, more than Sensex's 46.7 per cent and category average of 34.69 per cent.

Reliance Growth: Since its launch in October 1995, this fund is known for great returns. In the past five calendar years, it has consistently beaten the category average by a fairly impressive margin.

Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Midcap's performance has been consistent over the years. Its focus on mid-caps paid when the tide turned in favour of mid-caps in 2003.

The fund manager has displayed a skill in identifying winners, ICICI Securities added.