Super 20 equity funds that have managed to not only beat benchmarks but delivered the best returns in the last one year

• If you are looking at equity funds that deliver superior returns, look no further. Here are the top 20 equity funds collated by Value Research.
• BHARAT 22 ETF and ICICI Prudential BHARAT 22 FOF were on the top of the list as they delivered 28% returns in the last one year.
• Another analysis of the report shows that most funds in the top performing list were from the mid cap category.

Mutual funds have been witnessing record inflows by investors every month, thanks to the systematic investment trend that is now a savings pattern of retail investors. This is applaudable because it is happening at a time when foreign institutional investors are selling Indian stocks aggressively, which fortunately did not impact domestic investors.

Inflows into equity oriented mutual funds hit a nine-month high in February with an infusion to the tune of ₹15,686 crore. The inflows stood at ₹12,546 crore in January, as per Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) data.

High inflows were seen in thematic and small cap funds at ₹3,856 crore and ₹2,246 crore respectively. Mutual funds’ interest in mid and small caps has been growing in the last three quarters.

In fact, mutual fund categories that have performed relatively better include small, mid and thematic funds.

Here are the top 20 equity funds collated by Value Research report on ‘Best Funds for wealth, income, short term goals and tax saving 2023’ as per their performance in the last one year.

BHARAT 22 ETF and ICICI Prudential BHARAT 22 FOF were on the top of the list as both delivered 28% returns each to investors in the last one year. ICICI Prudential BHARAT 22 FOF is a fund-of-funds scheme that tracks BHARAT 22 ETF.

Bharat 22 ETF was introduced by the government in the Union Budget 2017 as a vehicle to achieve its divestment target. The index is collectively comprised of 22 stocks of central public sector enterprises (CPSE), public sector banks and private companies which are strategic holding of specified undertakings of unit trust of India (SUUTI).

Another analysis of the report shows most funds in the list were from the mid cap category that have higher returns. Note that interest in mid caps has been growing in the last three quarters as it saw inflows of ₹14,632 crore at a time when large-cap funds witnessed inflows worth less than half of it at ₹6,392 crore in the last three quarters.

Source: Value Research

Meanwhile, the bottom 20 funds that have delivered poor returns in the last one year included most of the small and flexi cap stocks.

This comes at a time when markets have been extremely volatile in the last one year due to high inflation and macroeconomic challenges. This led to heavy outflows in stocks that couldn't stand through the testing times.

Nifty Smallcap 100 index has lost 15% in the last one year while Nifty Midcap 100 lost 2.38%.

Source: Value Research

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