Fund Radar: Duds to studs

You're... shot down in May, But I know I'm gonna change that tune When I'm back on top, back on top in June I said that's life These four lines from Frank Sinatra's 'That's Life' show that every redemption story has a beginning, middle and end. It's no different in the lifecycle of a mutual fund. The beginning introduces you to the protagonists, which is why we analysed all equity funds (excluding sectoral funds) in the last four years and identified 16 funds that have risen from the ashes. Of the 16, five belonged to two fund houses, whose revival coincided with three crucial changes. The middle section unfolds the story of how these funds - ITI's Large Cap, Multi Cap and Small Cap and Motilal Oswal's ELSS Tax Saver and Flexi Cap - were down and out on the performance count. In 2021 and 2022, they languished in the third and fourth quartiles of their respective categories. The ending is what we wait for; the tale of a stirring comeback. In these funds' case, the turnaround was scripted by three men - Rajesh Bhatia for ITI AMC, and Prateek Agrawal and Niket Shah in the case of Motilal Oswal. Soon after their