Equity schemes stretch gains, debt schemes flat: CRISIL~RRR

CRISIL FundServices, in its monthly Risk Adjusted Return Ranking (CRISIL~RRR) of the performance of mutual fund schemes, has covered eleven mutual fund investment options and has ranked 241 schemes for the one-year period ended March 2006. The ranking covers 56 per cent of mutual funds industry Assets under Management (AUM). The CRISIL~RRR measures performance of the schemes not only on the returns given by the schemes over the period of analysis but also the risk they took to get those returns.

The stock market stretched its gains in March 2006 with the BSE Sensex crossing another milestone and closed at 11280 points. The benchmark S&P CNX Nifty reached an all-time high of 3419 points during the month and delivered returns of 10.66 per cent while the CNX Midcap Index delivered 8.9 per cent.

Foreign funds, as usual, drove the market, but the month also saw mutual funds (MFs) being active. FIIs and MFs together contributed Rs. 11015 crore in net market investment wherein FIIs contributed to 59 per cent while MFs contributed 41 per cent. One of the major highlights of the month was Reliance Mutual Fund mopping up Rs5,700 crore through the Reliance Equity Fund NFO thus breaking the 14-year old collection record of UTI Mastergain. Money market tightness remained though call rates stayed largely below 7 per cent owing to the RBI-infused liquidity. The US Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates by 25 bps to 4.75 per cent on March 28, which also weakened sentiments.

The equity funds category benchmark, the CRISIL Fund~eX, generated a return of 70.74 per cent for the year-ended March 2006.

  • Sundaram Select Midcap – Growth continued to top the category at CRISIL~RRR 1
  • Sundaram India Leadership Fund – Growth moved up by three notches to CRISIL~RRR 2
  • Merrill Lynch India T.I.G.E.R. Fund – Growth moved five notches to CRISIL~RRR 3.

In the equity-linked savings scheme (ELSS) category:

  • HDFC Long Term Advantage Fund – Growth moved up a notch to CRISIL~RRR 1
  • SBI Magnum Tax Gain Scheme 1993 was at CRISIL~RRR 2.
  • Principal Tax Saving Fund moved up two notches to CRISIL~RRR 3.