With failed negotiations and no compromise in sight between Russia and Ukraine, the volatility-infested Indian stock markets were left oscillating in a range for most of March, although by the time the month and financial year ended, markets had regained some confidence and the benchmark Nifty50 ended 4% higher than February 2022.

Uncertainty about the geopolitical situation continued and rising energy and commodity prices kept markets volatile. However, broader markets tracked the benchmarks and ended the month in positive territory. Nifty50 grew 3.99% and Nifty Midcaps and BSE Smallcaps recovered 5.2% and 5.83% respectively. BSE500 grew 4.19%

The March series ended with massive volatility across asset classes, and perplexing investors, but the end of the financial year offered comfort to the equity market, which had taken a fall at the start of the series.

Despite increased volatility and pressure on markets from external factors like ongoing war, and higher crude and commodity prices fuelling inflation amid rising interest rates, many portfolio management service (PMS) schemes from broader markets outperformed the Nifty and Sensex and generated better returns last month.

Top PMS Performance in March 2022

The highest returns of 13.5% for the month were generated by Care Portfolio Managers-Growth Plus Value scheme (small and midcap-focused scheme) which was followed by Right Horizons-Minerva India Underserved (11.37%), Abans Inv Managers-Smart Beta Portfolio (10.53%) (primarily focused on midcaps), Nine Rivers Capital-Aurum Small Cap Opp (9.74%) (primarily focused on small-caps) and Invesco-Caterpillar (9.46%) (primarily focused on midcap stocks).

Care Portfolio Managers-Growth Plus Value scheme was launched in July 2011 with a focus on investing in companies across the market cap. The higher weightage is given to a lower valuation multiple. The strategy will have higher allocation towards small-cap companies which are growing their business at higher rates

Minerva India Underserved strategy largely focuses on businesses within under-penetrated categories that have much longer runways of growth. The core of the strategy is to capture value dislocations using a very forensic on the ground approach to picking stocks.

Nine River Capital PMS’s Aurum Small Cap Opportunities fund aims to invest in a concentrated portfolio (12-15 high conviction ideas) of small-cap stocks (market cap of less than 5000 cr). The portfolio also has a unique product structure with a fixed term of 5 years, and the endeavor is to monetize the portfolio by the end of the tenure in a systematic fashion.

Invesco PMS’s Caterpillar strategy is a small-and-mid cap-focused strategy that seeks to invest in companies that can get re-rated driven by earnings growth, change in business environments, or being out of favor. The focus is on companies with a scalable business model, sustained growth prospects, and niche/emerging business areas.

List of the top PMS Performers Category-Wise- Large Cap, Mid Cap, Small Cap, and Multi-Cap for March 2022

Of the 270 schemes reported in March 22, 110 schemes (41%) generated better returns than the Nifty. There were 74 schemes (27%) that generated more than 5% returns for the month of March 2022.

Large Cap : The average category return of large-cap PMS for March 2022 was 3.27% with most of the strategies generating positive returns against NIFTY50’s 3.99%. The top performers in this category are Varanium Capital Advisors (9.10%), ICICI PRU (6.51%), Wize Market Analytics (5.72%), and Asit C Mehta Investment Intermediates (4.80%).

Large and Mid-Cap : The average category return was 3.94% with many strategies generating positive returns much above the average returns. The top performers in this category are Oro Asset Management (7.9%), Bonanza (4.92%), LIC MF (4.38%), and Composite Investments Private Limited (3.53%).

Mid-Cap : The mid-cap PMS strategies recorded an average return of 4.84% with the majority of strategies earning higher positive returns against NIFTY Midcap returns of 5.20%. The top performers in this category are Aban Investment Managers (10.5%), Invesco (9.46%), Renaissance (8.04%), NAFA Asset Managers (6.59%), and Master Portfolio Services (6.46%).

Small and Mid-Cap : This category comprises 24 PMS strategies that generated an average return of 3.63% in March 2022. Many strategies generated very high returns and the toppers in this category are Care Portfolio Managers (13.50%), Arihant AMC (8.70%), Geojit Financial Services Limited (6.80%), Motilal Oswal (6.32%), and Phillip Capital (5.89%), 

Small-Cap : This category comprises 17 PMS strategies that generated an average return of 5.28% in March 2022. The average returns, however, were slightly lower than the BSE Smallcap returns of 5.83%, but many strategies generated returns much higher than the BSE Smallcap returns. The top performers in this category are Right Horizons (11.37%), Nine Rivers Capital (9.74%), Aequitas Investment Consultancy (8.71%), ICICI Pru (8.71%), and Centrum PMS (6.79%).

Multi-Cap : This is the largest category of PMS comprising 148 schemes that generated an average return of 3.74% for March 2022 with many schemes doing well and generating much above the average returns. The top performers in this category are Anand Rathi Advisors (9.40%), NJ Asset Management (8.89%), Negen Capital (8.80%), Systematix (8.74%), and Turtle Wealth (8.18%)

Thematic and Sector : The Thematic and Sector comprises 13 schemes that generated an average return of 2.54% for March 2022. The top performers in this category are Green Portfolio (5.78%), Kotak (5.74%), Invesco (4.54%), Incred PMS (4.30%), and Right Horizons (3.42%).