The month of April was very positive for PMS strategies, even as key indices recorded reasonable returns during the month.

Strategies across market capitalizations did well in the month, exceeding standard benchmarks by a wide margin. In April, the Nifty 50 TRI delivered 1.24% returns, while the BSE 500 TRI gave 3.44% returns.

While FIIs were net sellers in the cash market during the month to the tune of 35,692 crore, DIIs were net buyers to the extent of Rs 44,186 crore in April.

The average return from the 386 PMS strategies was 6.3% in April. The top PMS strategies, however, delivered stellar double-digit returns during the month. In April, 360 strategies (more than 9 in 10) outperformed the Nifty TRI, while 301 funds (nearly 8 in 10) delivered more than the BSE 500 TRI.

The top performers’ list in the month was dominated by multiple strategies. Multi cap, small & midcap, and midcap funds were among the best in terms of returns.

Top 10 PMS Strategies of April 2024

The following are the top 10 funds from the 386 PMS strategies tracked and analysed by PMS Bazaar.

The top 10 schemes delivered excellent performances in April. These funds gave 15-18 times the Nifty TRI’s returns during the month and 4-6 times that of the BSE 500 TRI. 

Incred Asset Management’s small & midcap strategy was the best-performing fund of the pack with 20.1% returns in April. The fund looks to invest in companies that are small, but have the potential to become large caps due to the market size, industry type, management, improving margins and return on capital employed.

The balanced portfolio of Prithvi Finmart took the second spot with 19.34% returns during the month.

Wallfort PMS and Advisory Services’ diversified fund came third with 19.13% returns in April. The strategy combines fundamental and technical analyses, apart from quantitative screening to arrive at a universe of stocks to invest in.

The performance of the top 10 strategies and their comparison with Nifty and BSE 500 for the month are given below.

After a lull, small caps were back with a bang in the month of April with 9.88% returns. Closely following them were the small & midcap, and midcap strategies with 8.78% and 8.95%, respectively for the month. 

Multicap and thematic funds, too, did quite well and beat standard benchmarks, by recording 6.35% and 6.43% returns, respectively in April.

Large caps and large & midcaps were relative underperformers, though in absolute terms, they still delivered well with 4.83% and 3.42%.

The performance of the strategies is depicted below in the chart.

Small cap

April saw small caps gain sound traction. All the 21 strategies outperformed both the Nifty 50 TRI and BSE 500 TRI during the month. The category recorded a staggering 9.88% returns in the month.

Taking the top slot was the Micro strategy from Centrum PMS with 15.99% returns during April.

Accuracap’s Dynamo Fund came second in the month with 14.81% returns.

The emerging opportunities fund from Equitree Capital Advisors took the third position with 14.71% returns in April. The fund invests in under-researched and under-invested companies and does not shy away from taking contrarian calls.

The performance of the category in April with respect to the BSE 500 TRI and Nifty 50 TRI is depicted in the graph below.

Small & Midcap

The small and midcaps segment gave 8.78% returns on average during April.

As mentioned earlier, Incred Asset Management’s small & midcap fund was the best in the category with 20.1% returns in the month.

Green Lantern Capital’s growth fund came second with 17.69% returns in the month. The fund invests in companies that are industry leaders, generate a high return on equity and trade with a reasonable margin of safety.

The target return investment fund from Sowilo Investment Managers came third with 15.46% returns during April.

Midcap

Midcap strategies, too, experienced a robust month in April, with the category giving 8.95% on average during the month. Of the 27 strategies tracked, all funds managed to beat the Nifty 50 TRI and the BSE 500 TRI.

The diversified fund from Wallfort PMS and Advisory Services took the first position and recorded 19.13% returns in the month.

NAFA Asset Managers’ Clean Tech Portfolio came second with 17.13% returns during the month. The fund invests in a concentrated portfolio of 10-15 stocks that are mostly into or related to the Electric Vehicle business. 

The third spot was taken by the deep value fund IV from Centrum PMS with 13.68% returns in April.

The chart below shows how the midcap strategy fared against the Nifty 50 TRI and BSE 500 TRI in April.

Large and Midcap

This category had a relatively moderate performance in April. The 16 Large & midcap funds gave 4.83% on average during the month. 

Taking the top slot was Mansi Share and Stock Advisors’ Seven Islands PMS with 10.78% returns in April.

Alchemy Capital Management’s Alpha 250 took the second spot with 8.93% returns in the month. The fund uses back-tested, data-driven approaches based on growth, valuation, earnings quality and balance sheet health.

Green Lantern’s Alpha fund took came third with 8.82% returns during the month.

Large cap

The Large Cap category was a modest performer in April. The 25 funds in the category delivered 3.42% on average during the month. As many as 20 funds outperformed the Nifty 50 TRI, and 9 beat the BSE 500 TRI. 

The large cap fund from Dynamic Equities took the top position with 12.09% during the month. 

The growth and value fund from JM Financial Services came second with an 8.17% return in April.

Tulsian PMS was the third in the charts with 7.06% returns during the month.

Multi-cap

This category has the largest number of funds and is tracked keenly. The 175 funds in the category gave 6.35% on average during April. As many as 146 strategies outperformed the BSE 500 TRI during the month and 169 did better than the Nifty TRI. 

Prithvi Finmart’s Balanced Portfolio was the best fund in the category with 19.34% returns in the month.

Incred Asset Management’s Multicap Portfolio was the next in the charts with 16.97% returns in April.

Taking the third spot was the PMS Active Multicap fund from Samvitti Capital with 15.25% returns. The fund uses qualitative, quantitative and price action analyses to zero in on the investible stocks.

In the chart below, the performance of the multicap category average against the returns of the Nifty 50 TRI and BSE 500 TRI in April is depicted.

Thematic 

The thematic category had a relatively healthy outing in April and the segment gave 6.43% on average. 

All of the top three spots were taken by Green Portfolio’s funds. MNC advantage with 12.39%, super dynamic with 12.02% and the impact ESG fund with 10.47% were the chart toppers.

Takeaway 

Given the broader market rally in April, most strategies made the best use of the uptick in the indices and delivered well.

Corporate results came largely in line with expectations from across sectors. Barring the initial disappointment from the IT pack, many of the other sectors such as banks, capital goods, real estate, PSUs, industrials etc. came out with strong results for the March quarter.

Though the Federal Reserve in the US and the RBI in India are still hawkish on interest rates, markets have largely taken the views in their stride.

With the election outcome awaited, FIIs continue to sell in the markets, though DIIs look to buy at every market dip.

Crude oil prices have cooled off and geopolitical tensions have somewhat reduced. For the foreseeable future, there appears to be no threat to the markets at the macro level, though individual stock and sector results could bring about volatility in those counters.