Jain, Padwal-Desai are BS Fund Managers of the Year

HDFC MF’s Prashant Jain and Franklin Templeton AMC’s Sachin Padwal-Desai have been chosen the Business Standard Fund Managers of the year.

While Jain, who is executive director and chief investment officer, won the award in the equity space for the second year in a row, Padwal-Desai (fund manager and vice-president, fixed income) made his maiden entry at the top in the debt category.

The two winners were selected by a jury comprising G N Bajpai (former chairman of Sebi and LIC), Rajeev Gupta (Ex-Carlyle India MD and founder & MD of Arpwood Capital), Vibhav Kapoor (group chief investment officer, IL&FS) and Ashvin Parekh (partner, national leader, global financial services, Ernst & Young).

Among the various parameters and filters, the weighted average Sharpe ratio as well as a threshold size were adopted to decide on the winners. The former takes into account the size of assets managed by the fund manager in relation to the total assets in the category. The jury’s decision-making process, as well as the two Fund Managers of the Year, feature in the annual issue of Fund Manager, a 16-page special tabloid distributed free with today’s edition.

While Jain continued his investments in the defensive space (FMCG) with quality scrips (ITC, HUL) which helped bring in steady gains, specific picks (Tata Motors DVR, Zee Entertainment) across a few sectors boosted his portfolio returns. However, the going was not easy. Jain says: “The outperformance has been moderate, with exposure to public banks impacting adversely.”

The debt category, too, had its share of worries, given a difficult policy environment and uncertain interest rates. While rivals focused on gilt funds, hoping of a rate cut, Padwal-Desai looked at corporate bonds, instead, and reaped the rewards without getting too aggressive. He says: “We were careful in avoiding undue credit risk in our portfolios.”