Top small-cap performing funds in last three months
The current downfall in the equity market, when taken from the beginning of the year (though recently, they have seen a sharp upmove) has only accentuated the fall, through which, the broader market was going through.
The reason for their fall was initially due to high valuations and after that, economic slowdown and more recently, due to COVID-19 related concerns. For example, from January 15, 2018, small-cap indices have seen a sharp pullback and have been in pain for the last two and a half years. The current downturn in the small-cap stocks is already one of the longest and the deepest.
Since January 2018 till March 23, 2020, BSE Small-cap index was down by almost 56 per cent. It was at 20,046.9 on January 15, 2018, and from there, it fell to 8,872.83 on March 23, 2020. Even as on July 29, 2020, the index is down by 35 per cent from its peak.
This is being reflected in the performance of mutual funds schemes dedicated to small-cap. In the last three years, all the small-cap dedicated funds except for two (SBI and Axis) have given negative returns. Nonetheless, the tide is turning now.
Looking at the last three months’ performance, it seems that a bottom for small-cap stocks has formed. Despite, such volatility in the equity market year to date (YTD), the small-cap index has performed in tandem with large-cap, and in the last three months, on average, the small-cap funds have performed marginally better than the large-cap funds.
The following are the best performing small-cap funds in the last three months.
Top Small-Cap Funds (based on last three months’ performance)
|
Funds
|
Fund Manager
|
AUM(in Rs. cr)
|
NAV (Rs)
|
Ret. (%)1 mo
|
Ret.(%)3 mo
|
Ret.(%)6 mo
|
Ret.(%)3 yrs
|
Ret.(%)5 yrs
|
Ret.(%)10 yrs
|
Principal Small Cap
|
Ravi Gopalakrishnan
|
166.9
|
10.48
|
7.54
|
21.26
|
-4.61
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
ICICI Pru Small-cap
|
Sankaran Naren
|
1111.2
|
22.37
|
4.84
|
20.52
|
-18.12
|
-5.43
|
1.46
|
8.24
|
Canara Rob Small Cap
|
Cheenu Gupta
|
375.2
|
9.84
|
7.45
|
20.46
|
-5.06
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
HSBC Small Cap Equity
|
Ankur Arora
|
287.1
|
40.5
|
3.92
|
20.42
|
-14.25
|
-8.99
|
-0.21
|
5.75
|
Tata Small Cap Fund
|
Chandraprakash Padiyar
|
613.8
|
9.88
|
3.84
|
20.21
|
-12.15
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
source: rupeevest
The following are the funds that have performed worst in the last three months.
Bottom Small Cap Funds (based on last three months’ performance)
|
Funds
|
Fund Manager
|
AUM(in Rs. cr)
|
NAV (Rs)
|
Ret. (%)1 mo
|
Ret. (%)3 Ret.
|
Ret. (%)6 mo
|
Ret. (%)3 yrs
|
Ret. (%)5 yrs
|
Ret. (%)10 yrs
|
Franklin India Smaller C
|
R. Janakiraman
|
5050.4
|
41.25
|
2.66
|
14.08
|
-20.68
|
-9.18
|
1.19
|
11.17
|
SBI Small Cap Fund-Reg(G)
|
R. Srinivasan
|
3917.4
|
50.97
|
3.21
|
13.68
|
-11.61
|
3.6
|
9.49
|
16.49
|
Union Small Cap Fund
|
Vinay Paharia
|
300.5
|
13.27
|
5.3
|
13.18
|
-13.52
|
-4.06
|
1.07
|
-
|
IDBI Small Cap Fund
|
Uma Venkatraman
|
101.1
|
7.95
|
4.59
|
11.78
|
-17.07
|
-7.45
|
-
|
-
|
Axis Small Cap Fund
|
Anupam Tiwari
|
2310.1
|
29.15
|
3.65
|
10.41
|
-15.28
|
4.14
|
-
|
|
source: rupeevest
Small-cap funds have performed better in the long-run. However, in the short-run, they do tend to exhibit more volatility. Therefore, these funds are recommended only for those investors, who have an appetite for risk and have an investment horizon of 7 to 10 years. Besides, funds with lower assets under management should be avoided in difficult market times, as it may create a liquidity issue.