10 mutual fund schemes which have beaten Sensex by wide margin in 2015

NEW DELHI: Retail investors are back on Dalal Street and this time, mostly via the mutual fund route. This is evident from the fact that mutual fund (MF) managers bought shares worth a staggering Rs 10,533 crore even though overseas investors pulled out record money from the stock market.

The latest data showed fund managers bought shares worth a net Rs 10,533 crore last month while foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) pulled out a record Rs 17,434 crore during the period, said a PTI report.

Mutual Fund schemes have performed much better than the benchmark indices so far in the year 2015. Top ten schemes based on percentage returns so far in the year 2015 have outperformed the benchmark index by a wide margin.

The AUM or the total assets under management is under Rs 500 crore for these themes which have reported more than 20 per cent return so far in the year 2015.

The SBI Pharma Direct - Growth rose 22 per cent, followed by SBI Pharma-G, which rose 21 per cent, while Reliance Pharma-Growth rallied 18 per cent, as compared to over 6 per cent fall in the S&P BSE Sensex so far in the year 2015.

MF themes which have performed well in the year are mostly defensives such as Pharma, IT, and MNC. Top stocks under Pharma theme include names like Sun Pharma, Lupin, Aurobindo Pharma, Strides Arcolab, Torrent Pharma, and Divi's Laboratories.

Top stocks under the MNC theme include names like BOSCH, ICRA, Bayer CrospScience, Maruti Suzuki, Gillette India, Honeywell Automation, Pfizer, Kotak Mahindra Bank, and HUL.

Top stocks under midcap theme include names like Amara Raja Batteries, Max India, MindTree, Crisil, Ajanta Pharma, Wabco India, Tata Elsxi.

Analysts across brokerage firms are positive on pharma sector along with IT, and are of the view that it should be part of one's portfolio to bring some balance amid volatility.

"To bring balance in the portfolio, I still like to have some consumption, IT and pharma stocks, because pharma again is a very wide sector and within that, there are many stocks, very diverse from each other in their business model and they are quite attractive from earnings perspective," says Ritu Gangrade Arora, CIO, Canara HSBC OBC Life Insurance.

"We are saying this next couple of quarters are only going to demonstrate earnings in the market and, hence, one cannot ignore the pharma sector," added Arora.

A lot of these pharma counters are trading at valuations which are close to their peak recorded in the past few years. Analysts advise investors to remain stock-specific in the sector, given the outperformance.

"Two themes which we have been playing on are the consumption theme and the export-oriented businesses, primarily coming from the currency depreciation. So, if you look at sectors like IT and pharma, they are the big gainers of the currency depreciation," says Sanjay Kumar, CIO, PNB MetLife.

"These are good sectors to focus on and these sectors, many of the companies in these sectors have strong fundamentals as well. If you look at sectors like consumers and automobiles, they are big beneficiaries of the reduction in input costs. So, again, here you will see margin expansion and improving corporate profitability," he added.

Retail investors making a comeback:

According to a recent report, retail investors are shopping in a big way, despite global headwinds, via Mutual Fund route which is set to touch Rs 20 trillion asset base in the next 3 years.

Total assets under management or AUM of Mutual Fund industry are expected to cross Rs 20 trillion mark by 2018 from the existing Rs 12 trillion, according to a report.

Faster growth is backed by factors like low penetration, sound macro-economic environment and favourable demographics, according to a joint report by EY and Cafemutual.

It is difficult to comment if AUM could touch 20 trillion mark or not, but it looks reasonable, says Dinesh Khara, MD & CEO, SBI MF on the sidelines of Cafemutual Confluence 2015.

The India Mutual Fund industry is in a sweet spot with all the enabling ingredients in place. Strong fundamentals of the economy helped cushion the Indian financial markets (including MFs) against the global financial crisis.

"If we just look at the SIP or Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) plan which has increased multiple times, it only shows that investors are maturing," says Anup Bagchi, MD & CEO, ICICI Securities on the sidelines of the Cafemutual Confluence 2015.