The performance of India's multi-billion dollar PMS industry in October 2021 was more like September 2021. As many as 129 PMSes beat Nifty's 0.30 per cent in October, with good performance by some smallcap, multicap and largecap schemes. On the flipside, thematic strategies had a forgettable month. Also, there was a wide difference among same strategies in categories in October. Let us know more.

Best strategies of the month

Though PMS as a product is not recommended for short tenures, a look at monthly performers does show what is working and what isn't in the PMS landscape. While September saw dominance of midcap strategies, October represents a more balanced picture with top performers coming from multicap, largecap, smallcap, midcap etc. categories. In terms of returns, there was no compromise amongst toppers with 60% of top 10 delivering in excess of 5% in October.

The winner was Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers Equity Fund with 10.31% gains. The scheme falls in multicap category. 2nd best in the pecking order was Renaissance Opportunities with 8.05%, a strategy that represents the largecap category. 3rd was Agreya Capital Exposure Equity Index Strategy with 5.62 per cent, again from largecap basket.

The next in the top-10 club were Fort Capital Value Fund 5.59% (smallcap), Invesco Caterpillar 5.57% (midcap), Agreya Index Multiplier 5.15%(Multicap), Valentis Rising Star Opportunity 3.97% (small & midcap), Sundaram Alternates PACE 3.80% (multicap) and Invesco DAWN 3.69% (multicap).

You can notice how two Sundaram and Invesco schemes figure prominently in top-10 club. This would be on account of AMCs these days having high-conviction bets common across their strategies. As a result, when a high-conviction stock does well, it lifts all the schemes that have it.  Invesco Caterpillar was the numero uno in September, and has maintained its scorching pace in October as well.

Best categories

Largecap - The 24-scheme strong largecap category in PMS generated 0.66% gain in October, easily beating the Nifty's 0.30% gain. The 3 best in the lot were Renaissance Opportunities, Agreya Capital Exposure Equity Index Strategy and Nippon India Absolute Freedom (3.5%).

Large & midcap - In this niche category of 6 strategies, the average return in October was 0.34%. This was largely due to wide variance between the best large & midcap PMS i.e. LIC MF Value Equity+ (3.45%) and the category laggard (-4.85%).

Midcap - While midcap PMS category have close to 28 schemes, 22 have so far reported October data. The average gain of this segment in October stands at 0.30% compared, in-line with Nifty Midcap 100's 0.30% return. Again, there was wide variance between top and bottom performer. Invesco Caterpillar, Renaissance Midcap (3.43%) and Nafa Asset Emerging Bluchip (3.13%) topped the charts. The worst 3 laggards reported losses of 3-8% this month.

Small & midcap - The 19-scheme strong small & midcap PMS strategy category reported an average loss of 0.31% in October, due to 12 funds individually posting negative return. Still, the best performers in October were Valentis Rising Star Opportunity (3.97%), Kotak Small & Mid Cap (3.12%) and Geojit Advantage Portfolio (2.06%). The worst laggards clocked returns in the range of 2-3%.

Smallcap - Smallcap PMS category clocked positive average gain of 0.47% in October, comprehensively beating BSE Smallcap index's -0.4% return. Among the 16 strategies that reported data, the 3 best were Fort Capital Value Fund (5.59%), Sundaram Alternates Rising Stars (4.50%) and Marcellus Little Champs (2.58%). Two laggards in the smallcap category posted 3-5% losses, which imapcted overall category average.

Multicap - The multicap PMS category is the biggest space with over 150 products. Multicap PMSes on an average generated 0.21%, but that number hides the real performers as well as the real laggards. On average return basis, the category outshined BSE 500's 0.22% gain in October. The top 3 performers are Basant Maheshwari Wealth Equity Fund (10.31%), Agreya Capital Index Multiplier (5.15%) and Sundaram Alternates PACE (3.80%). On the other end of the spectrum, the 3 worst lagggards posted between 3-4.5% losses.

Thematic & sector - In the thematic & sector category, there are 12 schemes. Trivantage Capital Resurgent Financials Equity (3.42%) and Kotak Fintech (1.93%) performed well among sector strategies. In the thematic space, Anand rathi MNC PMS (1.00%) and ASK Financial Opportunities Portfolio (0.82%) performed reasonably well. Do note pharma sector or thematic funds had a forgettable month in October 2021.