Small funds, but highest returns in last one year

Only one equity scheme from top five fund houses' stable could register its presence in top ten best performers

Small and mid-sized fund houses would be smaller in size but when it comes to returns they are the ones making the highest returns for the equity investors.

They have beaten the benchmark indices with a margin of 6-10 per cent. In fact, among the top ten best equity schemes (in terms of returns over the last one year), six are from the stable of smaller players.

Axis Equity scheme from Axis Mutual Fund is the top most with returns of 24.43 per cent as on 11 June, 2013 while Escorts Leading Sectors fund from Escorts Mutual Fund is trailing a bit behind with returns of Rs 24.27 per cent.

Apart from it, returns in schemes like IDBI Nifty Junior Index fund, Goldman Sachs Nifty Junior BeES, Morgan Stanley Growth Regular and Axis Midcap are ranging between 21.5 to 23.5 per cent as per the statistics available from fund tracker Value Research Online.

Returns in the range of 21-25 per cent is remarkable at a time when India's benchmark stock indices have scaled up around 14.5 per cent during the same period.

It is interesting to note that from India's top five mutual funds, only one could register its place among the top ten equity schemes - ICICI Prudential Nifty Junior Index with a return of 22.3 per cent; that too at the eight position.

Currently, equity segment of mutual fund industry has 21 per cent of overall asset under management.

Table showing ten best performaing equity schemes in last one year

Fund	Returns in per cent (as on June 11, 2013
Axis Equity	24.43
Escorts Leading Sectors	24.27
Franklin India Smaller Companies	23.73
IdBI Nifty Junior Index	23.51
SBI Magnum Midcap	23.47
Goldman Sachs Nifty Junior BeES	23.46
Morgan Stanley Growth Reg	22.95
ICICI Pru Nifty Junior Index	22.30
Axis Midcap	21.58
Franklin India Prima	21.52
SP BSE Sensex	14.85
CNX Nifty	14.54
Source: Value Research Online