1-year data for over 180 funds shows a majority beating broad market index Nifty which was up 14.90%

Calendar year 2020 would go down in the annals of history as a period when market participants experienced extreme emotions linked to greed and fear. At the start of this year, Covid-19 jolted global equity markets and Indian stocks caught cold as the world sneezed. It was mayhem! Bears took control of share movement and this meant that Indian equities lost 30% in a blink of an eye in March. Then, came the respite. Like a phoenix rising from its ashes, the recovery started kicking in even as coronavirus cases continued to mount. It helped that markets were awash with liquidity.

By the year end, encouraging developments on the vaccine front helped justify the exuberance that bulls showed from April. The nature of markets in 2020 meant that portfolio managers, even the most experienced ones, were taken aback by the sheer pace of movement, both on the up and down. As we look back at the 2020 performance, PMS Bazaar is happy to report that investors in the best schemes gained 50-60% in 2020. The 1-year data shows that for the universe of 184 funds we track, a majority beat broad market benchmarks like Nifty or Sensex. This continues to show why equity PMS products are being increasingly preferred for alpha generation by HNIs and rich investors. Read on.

The best-performing strategies

Equirus Securities Long Horizon Fund - This 4 year old strategy, focussed on midcaps and smallcaps, was the 1st among equals. The Viraj Mehta-managed fund logged a gain of 61.55% in 2020. The last few months have been robust for this strategy. The portfolio is usually limited to 10-15 stocks.

SageOne Small & Microcap - This new smallcap strategy was the 2nd in the top performer list, with 61.3% jump in 2020. The Samit Vartak-led SageOne strategy follows a 12-20 stock concentrated approach with a market cap focus of Rs 500-5000 crore.

Kotak Pharma & Healthcare - This sector PMS strategy is about four years old. The fund reported 59.8% gain in 2020, the best by any sector oriented scheme. While the pharma sector had been a big outperformer between 2009 and 2015, it fell off the radar later. But Covid-19 brought the focus back on healthcare and Anshul Saigal-driven Kotak Pharma's 10-20 stock portfolio delivered the proverbial sweet pill.

Moneylife MAS Growth - A very recent addition to the large multicap PMS universe, Moneylife MAS Growth is the 4th best strategy of 2020 with a return of 57.06%. It is oriented towards Multicap.

AccuraCap Picopower - One of strategies with over 9 year vintage, the AccuraCap Picopower jumped over 54% in 2020, 20 percentage points more than the BSE Small Cap index. The 25-30 stock portfolio, built on the basis of a unique ranking algorithm that conducts extensive “Spatio-temporal” analysis, is the 5th best PMS fund of 2020.

Category scan

Largecap - Of the 20 Largecap PMS strategies with 1 year data we track, Pelican PE Fund (up 27.14%), AccuraCap Alpha10 (up 23.71%) and Ambit Inv. Adv. Coffee Can (up 22.10%) were the 3 best performers. Every second largecap PMS fund beat the Nifty's 14.9% return in 2020.

Multicap - Of the over 100 Multicap PMS strategies with 1 year data we track, Moneylife MAS Growth (up 57.06%), Sameeksha Capital Equity Fund (up 45.20%) and Estee Advisors Long Alpha (up 44%) were the 3 best performers. If BSE 500's gain of 16.8% for 2020 is considered a benchmark, then 60% of Multicap PMS schemes are out-performers.

Midcap - Of the 18 Midcap PMS strategies with 1 year data, Motilal Oswal Focused Midcap (up 46.3%), Centrum Deep Value (up 44.4%) and Centrum Multibagger (up 43.8%) were the 3 best performers. About 61% of Midcap PMSes outsmarted the Nifty Midcap 100 index's 21.9% gain in 2020.

Smallcap -  Of the 12 Smallcap PMS strategies with 1 year data, SageOne Small & Microcap (up 61.3%), AccuraCap Picopower (up 54.44%) and Nine Rivers Capital Aurum Small Cap Opp. (up 48.7%) were the best 3 best performers. About 67% of Smallcap PMS strategies trounced the BSE Small Cap index's 32.1% jump in 2020.

Small & Midcap - There are 10 strategies in this bucket. Equirus Securities Long Horizon Fund (up 61.55%), Valentis Advisors Rising Star Opportunity (up 33.47%) and Kotak Small & Midcap (up 30.7%) were the 3 star performers of 2020 calendar year.

Others - In the small segment of 'Large & Midcap' PMS strategies, IDFC Asset Management NEO Equity Portfolio was the 2020 topper with 23.84% gain. Do note Neo is an AI-powered strategy.

In the thematic space, Green Portfolio Dividend Yield strategy was the best performer in the 1 year period with 38.66% gain.

Estee Advisors I-Alpha was the best arbitrage scheme with 2020 gain of 10.59%. Among ETFs, NJ Asset Management Dynamic ETF Allocation Portfolio netted 17.33% rise for 2020.

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