4 New Funds Enter VR Ratings System

Value Research Fund Ratings (risk-adjusted rating) identifies the best funds in the Indian mutual fund universe, giving investors a superlative platform to launch their mutual fund investment voyage, saving both effort and time.

The fund rating is a convenient composite measure of both risk and returns. It is purely quantitative and there is no subjective component to the rating system. Each category must have a minimum of 10 funds for it to be rated. A fund with less than Rs 5 crore of average assets under management (AAUM) over the past six months will not be eligible for rating.

New Ratings

Four new funds entered the Value Research Rating family in December. One fund in the Hybrid Debt-Oriented category, Birla Sun Life Asset Allocation Conservative, jumped straight into the elite category to a 4-star rating. This is the first time that it has been rated since January, 2009. Two of the remaining three, Reliance Long Term Equity and Tata Capital Builder (both in the Equity Diversified category), gained a 3-star rating. The remaining fund, Birla Sun Life Short Term Opportunities Ret (Liquid Plus category), gained a 1-star rating - this is the first time that both these funds got rated.

Upgrades:

Two funds made the biggest jump as they entered the elite category. IDFC Cash Plan C falling under the Ultra Short-term Institutional category raised its star quotient from 1- to 4-star. On the other hand, DBS Chola MIP, falling under the Hybrid Monthly Income category, leaped from a 3- to a 5-star rating. 

Apart from these two, 27 other funds got upgraded by one notch, with four reaching the elite 5-star rating. 471 funds did not witness any change in their ratings from the previous month (November). 

Upgrades Funds    Dec-09    Nov-09    Change IDFC Cash Plan C   4   1   3 DBS Chola MIP   5   3   2 Magnum MIP   2   1   1 HDFC Balanced   4   3   1 HDFC Children's Gift-Inv   3   2   1 DWS Tax Saving   3   2   1 ICICI Prudential Index Retail   5   4   1 Canara Robeco Infrastructure   5   4   1 Birla Sun Life Infrastructure Plan A   4   3   1 DSPBR Small and Mid Cap Reg   4   3   1 Fortis Dividend Yield   4   3   1 HDFC Premier Multi-Cap   4   3   1 UTI Contra   4   3   1 Birla Sun Life India GenNext   3   2   1 Magnum Global   3   2   1 Tata Select Equity   3   2   1 Principal Growth   2   1   1 Fortis Overnight Inst Plus   5   4   1 IDFC Cash Plan B   3   2   1 ICICI Prudential Liquid   3   2   1

Downgrades:

31 funds fell by a notch in December, of which 5 were earlier rated 5-star.

Downgrades Funds    Dec-09    Nov-09    Change Kotak Contra   3   4   -1 Sundaram BNP Paribas Select Focus Reg   3   4   -1 IDFC Classic Equity Plan A   2   3   -1 Tata Growth   2   3   -1 Tata Service Industries   2   3   -1 Taurus Starshare   2   3   -1 ICICI Prudential Services Industries   1   2   -1 HDFC Liquid Premium   4   5   -1 DWS Insta Cash Plus Super Inst   3   4   -1 Religare Liquid Inst   2   3   -1 Templeton India TMA Inst   2   3   -1 Fidelity Cash Super Inst   1   2   -1 Templeton India TMA Liquid   2   3   -1 HDFC HI Short-term   3   4   -1 HSBC Income Short-term   2   3   -1 JM Short-term Reg   2   3   -1 Fortis Flexi Debt Reg   4   5   -1 DSPBR Bond Ret   2   3   -1 DWS Money Plus Inst   2   3   -1 UTI Treasury Advantage   2   3   -1

 

Fund House Round Up:

Birla Sun Life Asset Management Company (AMC) had the maximum number of rated funds in December, with 16 of them graded either 4- or 5-star. It was followed by HDFC AMC which had 15 4-5 star rated funds. The other two big AMCs ICICI Prudential AMC and Reliance AMC shared the third and fourth position respectively, with both having 13 of their funds graded 4- or 5-star in December. 

Altogether, 41 Birla Sun Life funds got rated by Value Research in December, while 39 funds of Franklin Templeton too got graded. UTI AMC brought up the third-best performance with 36 funds. 

Looked at another way, Sahara AMC had eight funds rated by Value Research, out of them seven funds got into the elite category of 4-5 star funds (5 were rated 5-star and two were rated 4-star). Benchmark had three out of a total of four of its funds achieve elite ratings (one got to be 5-star, two were tagged as 4-star).

Fund House Round Up Fund House    *    **    ***    ****    *****    Total Birla Sun Life   3   6   16   14   2   41 Franklin Templeton   1   7   21   6   4   39 UTI Mutual Fund       10   15   7   4   36 HDFC       5   14   11   4   34 ICICI Prudential   1   8   12   5   8   34 SBI   5   13   5   8       31 Tata   1   9   13   7       30 Reliance   1       7   7   6   21 Principal       9   8   4       21 DSPBR   3   3   8   4   2   20 Kotak Mahindra   2   5   9   4       20 ING   1   5   9   3   1   19 Sundaram BNP Paribas       7   6   4   1   18 IDFC   1   5   8   3   1   18 HSBC   7   5   4   2       18 JM   7   3   2   3   2   17 LIC   6   5   3   1   2   17 Canara Robeco       2   3   6   3   14 DBS Chola   4   2   3   4   1   14 Fortis   4   1   1   3   4   13 Deutsche       2   7   3   1   13 Fidelity   2   1   3   2   1   9 Sahara           1   2   5   8 Religare   1   2   4   1       8 AIG Global Inv   1   1   4   1       7 Benchmark       1       2   1   4 Taurus   1   2       1       4 Baroda Pioneer       1       1       2 Escorts   1               1   2 Quantum           1       1   2 Morgan Stanley       1               1