SIPs in IT, mid- and small-cap mutual funds top returns chart

Equity mutual funds betting on information technology stocks, mid-caps and small caps have yielded the highest returns for investors who put money in these products through Systematic Investment Plans (SIPs) in the past decade. The average SIP returns from the universe of equity schemes are 16.09% (annualized) for a 10-year period, according to an ET study of Value Research data. SIPs in Sensex and Nifty returned 16.19% and 15.92%, respectively, during the period.

Out of the total 263 equity mutual fund schemes, as many as 25 funds have generated returns above 20%, 158 have generated between 15% and 20% and 64 have generated between 10% and 15% returns. SIPs done in 16 have given returns of less than 10%, while value of three schemes have eroded. PSU banks, international, sectoral and some thematic funds are the ones that have been underperformers.

Financial planners say though some themes have been outperformers, investors would be better off holding top performing diversified equity mutual funds, where returns are less volatile, as part of their core portfolio. “Investors should allocate about 50% to large-/index/flexi-cap funds, 30% to mid- /small cap funds and 20% to international/ sectoral/ thematic funds, when doing SIPs for a 10-year period,” says Harshvardhan Roongta, certified financial planner, Roongta Securities.