At last this helped the believers of mutual funds to make good money. We are saying believers because a lot of Indian mutual fund investors have exited the market in 2011-12. Redemptions have been in torrents. And which kind of schemes has delivered the best performance? Well – you guessed it -- small and mid-cap schemes. This time too they have lived up to their expectation of beating the market handsomely in a prolonged rally.

 

There are 40 schemes in among the small-cap category, which delivered an annualised monthly mean return of 30.55%. The top 10 schemes of this category delivered a return of 36.68%, whereas the bottom 10 schemes delivered an average of 23.74%. The popular benchmark is CNX Midcap index, which delivered an annualised monthly mean return of 26.99% over the same period.

 

It’s all hindsight now but which of the funds performed the best? It was Principal Emerging Bluechip Fund with a return of 39.27%. What stocks did they buy which allowed them to record this kind of fantastic performance? The top three holdings of the scheme:  GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare, Amara Raja Batteries and Shree Cement. SBI Magnum Emerging Business Fund came second, with a return of 38.94% and Taurus Discovery Fund managed to deliver a return of 38.21%. Canara Robeco Emerging Equities delivered a return of 37.52%. From one of the newest fund houses on the block, Axis Midcap Fund delivered a mean return of 37.43%, with as much as 30% of its latest portfolio is allocated to the financial sector. IDFC Premier Equity Fund, which has been one of the top schemes of this category, came lower down the order (26th rank), with a return of 29.16%.