Equity schemes in negative territory, debt cautious: CRISIL


CRISIL FundServices, in its monthly Risk Adjusted Return Ranking (CRISIL~RRR) of the performance of mutual fund schemes, has ranked 193 schemes for the one-year ended April 2005, covering 10 types of mutual fund investment options and 64 per cent of the 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.

Says Krishnan Sitaraman, head, financial sector ratings, CRISIL, "Subsequent to the 25 basis point hike in the reverse repo rate by the RBI in its credit policy for 2005-06, investor sentiment in the debt market has remained cautious". The performance of the equity market was unimpressive in April 2005 on account of profit booking and lower than expected indicators from some corporates. The total purchases in the equity segment by the mutual fund industry stood at Rs. 1428 crore by April end.

The 'equity funds' category benchmark, the CRISIL Fund~eX, generated a return of 18.11 per cent for the year-ended April 2005. Sundaram Select Midcap topped the charts at CRISIL~RRR 1 in the category, followed by Franklin India Prima Fund and SBI Magnum Global Fund were at CRISIL~RRR 2 and CRISIL~RRR 3 respectively.

In the 'software sector', Alliance New Millennium Fund was at CRISIL~RRR 1, having moved up one notch over its previous ranking. Birla India Opportunities Fund - Plan B was at CRISIL~RRR 2 and Prudential ICICI Technology Fund was at CRISIL~RRR 3.

The CRISIL Fund~dX generated returns of 0.27 per cent for the year-ended April 2005. The top three schemes in the Income Funds category were Reliance Income Fund at CRISIL~RRR 1, UTI Bond Fund at CRISIL~RRR 2, and HSBC Income Fund - Investment Plan at CRISIL~RRR 3.

In the 'debt — short term category', UTI Liquid Short Term Plan maintained consistency at CRISIL~RRR 1, followed by Principal Income Fund - Short Term Plan and Kotak Bond Short Term Plan at CRISIL~RRR 2 and CRISIL~RRR 3 respectively. The CRISIL STBEX, the benchmark for short-term income funds, generated returns of 2.96 per cent for the year-ended April 2005.