7 out of top 10 fund picks rise 17%

Mutual funds' big-bet picks pip benchmarks in 2016

Seven out of top 10 stock picks by India’s equity fund managers have gained 17 per cent so far in 2016. This has helped equity schemes outperform the key indices.

Notably, fund managers have not churned their top holdings in their schemes' portfolios. They continued to have the same set of stocks on their top list, although the position of the stocks changed a bit.

HDFC Bank, Infosys, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Axis Bank, State Bank of India (SBI), Maruti Suzuki, Reliance Industries, IndusInd Bank, and Sun Pharmaceuticals are the most-owned stocks by fund managers. These counters have cornered nearly Rs 1.05 lakh crore of the total assets of open-end equity schemes.

At a time when benchmark key indices have gained 9.3 per cent, a majority of the top stock picks have outperformed with a wide margin.

Axis Bank has emerged the biggest hit among the top holdings. The stock has gained a hefty 33.3 per cent in 2016. It was followed by IndusInd Bank (22.5 per cent), HDFC Bank (18.6 per cent) and L&T (17.8 per cent).

The first two months of 2016 were troublesome for Indian shares. The benchmark BSE Sensex had plunged to 23,000 levels. Fund managers used the opportunity to buy more during corrections and pumped in Rs 13,300 crore.

HDFC Bank, which slipped to below Rs 1,000 was accumulated. Similar was the case with ICICI Bank, SBI and Axis Bank. The investment decision seemed right and as the market started surging again after the Budget, the returns on investment improved. The Infosys stock is down 6.7 per cent year to date (YTD). Sun Pharmaceuticals saw a value erosion of 4.62 per cent, while ICICI Bank remained flat YTD, with a marginal loss of 0.04 per cent.