)
Small and mid-cap equity funds have given the highest returns among equity-oriented funds in almost all timeframes ending December 31, 2013 (see table). Here, small and mid-cap equity funds referred to are as represented by the Crisil–Amfi Small & Midcap Fund Performance Index.
Crisil computed the returns of equity-oriented funds for the latest quarter as well as longer time frames. The small and mid-cap category emerged as the chartbuster beating its large-cap, diversified and equity-linked saving schemes (ELSS) peers. It also beat the category benchmark, CNX Midcap Index, over two, three and five years. In fact, for the quarter ended December 2013, which saw all equity categories outperform their respective category benchmarks, the Crisil-Amfi Small & Midcap Fund Performance Index generated absolute return of 19.21%, higher than not only the CNX Midcap Index’s 15.34%, but also the broader-market barometer CNX Nifty’s 9.92%.
What helped the small- and mid-cap funds excel? Better sector selection --- specifically, higher allocation to sectors such as industrial products coupled with lower exposure to oil & gas and power in the latest quarter. The absolute returns for sectoral indices are S&P BSE Capital Goods (33.19%), S&P BSE Oil & Gas (7.52%) and S&P BSE Power (11.69%) compared to CNX Midcap Index (15.34%) over the quarter. Within the small and mid-cap category, Crisil Fund Rank 1 funds (as of the quarter ended December 2013) had higher exposure to sectors such as pharmaceuticals, auto & auto ancillaries and were underweight banking & financial services, oil & gas and power over the three-year period.
| Categories |
3 months Absolute |
6 months Absolute |
9 months Absolute |
1 Year Absolute |
2 Years Annualised |
3 Years Annualised |
5 Years Annualised |
|
CRISIL – AMFI Large Cap Fund Performance Index | 12.22 | 10.52 | 12.3 | 5.74 | 17.05 | 2.47 | 18.04 |
|
CRISIL – AMFI Diversified Equity Fund Performance Index | 15.73 | 12.91 | 12.53 | 3.92 | 17.55 | 1.25 | 18.13 |
|
CRISIL – AMFI Small & Midcap Fund Performance Index | 19.21 | 16.84 | 16.02 | 4.78 | 21.84 | 4.33 | 23.7 |
|
CRISIL – AMFI ELSS Fund Performance Index | 15.64 | 13.72 | 14.97 | 6.54 | 19.36 | 2.73 | 19.26 |
|
CRISIL – AMFI Balance Fund Performance Index | 14.72 | 10.55 | 11.23 | 4.35 | 16.14 | 4.21 | 18.24 |
| CNX NIFTY Index | 9.92 | 7.9 | 10.94 | 6.76 | 16.71 | 0.91 | 16.32 |
| CNX 500 Index | 11.9 | 8.95 | 10.74 | 3.61 | 16.83 | -0.18 | 16.43 |
| CNX Midcap Index | 15.34 | 9.93 | 9.05 | -5.1 | 14.87 | -3.05 | 16.65 |
| CRISIL BalanceEx | 7.3 | 4.64 | 7.94 | 6.05 | 13.37 | 3.26 | 13.19 |
At the fund house level, UTI Mutual Fund and Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund led the tally of top-ranked funds for the quarter ended December 2013 with eight funds each under CRISIL Fund Rank 1, followed by ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund with seven and IDFC Mutual Fund with five funds. The latest Crisil Mutual Fund Ranking covers close to 90% of the average assets under management of open ended schemes at the end of December 2013.
Crisil Mutual Fund Ranking uses a combination of NAV and portfolio-based attributes for evaluation. The rankings also include categories that focus specifically on long-term consistency in performance. The ranks are assigned on a scale of 1 to 5, with Crisil Fund Rank 1 indicating ‘very good performance’. In any peer group, the top 10 percentile of funds are ranked as Crisil Fund Rank 1 and the next 20 percentile are ranked as Crisil Fund Rank 2.
