SIP in IT, mid-cap, small-cap stocks gave best returns in 10-year period: Study

Equity mutual funds’ investment in IT, mid-caps and small-cap stocks have given the highest returns for SIP investors in the last 10 years, according to a report by The Economic Times. The average SIP returns from the equity schemes are 16.09% (annualised), while SIPs in Sensex and Nifty returned 16.19% and 15.92%, during the 10-year period, says the report.

While 25 funds gave returns above 20%, returns from 158 other funds were between 15% and 20%. Another 64 have generated between 10% and 15% returns. As many as 16 funds returned less than 10%, says the study. There are 263 equity MF schemes.

The study of Value Research data further said three schemes have eroded. PSU banks, international, sectoral and some thematic funds are underperformers, it added,

Quoting financial planners it said while some themes are outperformers, investors would do well-holding top-performing, diversified equity mutual funds 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,” the report quoted Harshvardhan Roongta, certified financial planner, Roongta Securities.

In the tech category, ICICI Pru Tech Fund returned nearly 28%, ABSL Digital India about 27% and SBI Technology just above 24%.

In the mid-cap category, Axis Midcap returned 22.15%, while Kotal Emerging and Edelweiss Mid cap generated around 22% returns.

Nippon India Small Cap gave a return of over 26.15% in the small-cap category, followed by SBI Small Cap (26.11%) and Kotak Small Cap (23.43%).