In this monthly review, we also look at how different PMS categories have done across more than 190 schemes

After a solid 2020, the New Year started off on a weak note as markets fell in the last week of the month on Budget fears. This trend,ultimately reversed post Budget, but the damage was done. The Nifty ended 2.5 % down in January 2021, but Portfolio Management Services (PMSes) did much better. Protecting the wealth during downturn, 70 per cent of PMSes outperformed the Nifty. Top funds generated 7-9 per cent positive gain in a month where bears dominated. About 60 schemes performed poorly relative to Nifty.

Month's best performers

The 5 best performers in January 2021 come from the mid and smallcap segments. This is because the weakness in markets was led by largecaps, but small and midcaps were not that much impacted.

The best performer was Valentis Advisors Rising Star Opportunity with 9.08 per cent gain. It is followed by Invesco Caterpillar up 7.51 per cent, Negen Capital Small Cap Emerging up 4.66 per cent. Phillip Capital Emerging India and SageOne Small & Microcap complete the top five list.

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Though the top funds of January 2021 have given sedate returns  their 1 year performances are much better at 18-51 per cent.

Category scan

Now we will take a look at some of categories on PMS funds to understand how schemes have done in a segment.

Largecap - The 18 largecap PMSes saw average drop of 3.47 per cent, under-performing the Nifty. The best performer was ICICI Pru Largecap Portfolio, the only one with a positive return in the segment.

Large and midcap - All the 5 funds posted negative returns this month. The category average was minus 2.68 per cent. LIC MF Value Equity+ was the least affected.

Midcap - The 18 midcap PMSes clocked an average category return of 0.43 per cent this month. Fifty per cent of funds generated positive return. The top scheme was Invesco Caterpillar, which beat the category benchmark Nifty Midcap 100 by a wide margin.

Small and midcap - The 14 funds in this category posted an average return of 0.37 per cent this month. This was a very minor return but positive due to the overall bearish market trends. Valentis Advisors Rising Star Opportunity was the best performer with over 9 per cent return in a difficult month.

Smallcap - The 12 smallcap PMSes clocked an average 1.7 per cent gain, sharply out-performing BSE Smallcap index's -0.6 per cent show. The best performing scheme was Negen Capital Small Cap Emerging.

Multicap - This is by far the biggest PMS category with 111 schemes. The average return this month was -1.46 per cent, which was still better than Nifty 500's larger 1.8 per cent drop. Buoyant Capital Opportunities was the best performer this month.

Others - Among thematic PMSes, Right Horizons Alphabots India Prime was the best performer. Kotak Fintech was the best among sector strategies. NJ Asset Freedom ETF was the best among exchange traded funds in the PMS space.