These equity funds were winners in FY23

Financial year 2023 was so volatile for actively managed equity mutual fund schemes. About half of them delivered negative returns during the period. The key factors that drove the markets throughout the year include resurgent geopolitical tensions, uncertain interest-rate movements and valuation concerns. After a strong upward movement in the first half of FY2023, Indian equity markets turned into a correction mode in December 2022. A strong sell-off by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and the failure of SVB and Signature Bank, both in the US, spooked investors. The Nifty 50-TRI gained about one percent and the Nifty Midcap 100-TRI two percent. The Nifty Smallcap 100-TRI lost 13 percent during the period. Equity schemes that had notable exposure to the stocks in the infrastructure, consumption and industrial sectors gained the most. On the other hand, schemes that mainly bet on sectors like technology, pharma and commodity lost the most. Here are the top active equity schemes that delivered the highest returns in FY2023. All active equity-oriented schemes, including diversified, sector and thematic funds, with a corpus of over Rs 1,000 crore were considered.
Note: past performance is not indicative of future results. Source: ACEMF.

ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Fund
Category: Infrastructure fund
Top 3 sectors: Power, banks and construction projects
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 57:12:25:6
Fund manager: Ihab Dalwai

ICICI Prudential FMCG Fund
Category: Consumption fund
Top 3 sectors: Diversified FMCG, personal products and food products
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 68:10:11:10
Fund manager: Priyanka Khandelwal

Nippon India Power & Infra Fund
Category: Infrastructure fund
Top 3 sectors: Construction projects, power and cement & cement products
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 50:19:28:3
Fund manager: Sanjay Doshi

Tata Small Cap Fund
Category: Small-Cap fund
Top 3 sectors: Industrial products, consumer durables and commercial services & supplies
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 0:5:81:14
Fund manager: Chandraprakash Padiyar and Satish Chandra Mishra

HDFC Focused 30 Fund
Category: Focused fund
Top 3 sectors: Banks, IT – software and automobiles
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 82:6:2:10
Fund manager: Roshi Jain

SBI Contra Fund
Category: Contra fund
Top-3 sectors: Banks, power and IT - software
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 38:17:20:25
Fund manager: Dinesh Balachandran

DSP India T.I.G.E.R Fund
Category: Infrastructure fund
Top 3 sectors: Industrial products, electrical equipment and power
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 33:23:37:7
Fund manager: Charanjit Singh and Rohit Singhania

Franklin Build India Fund
Category: Infrastructure Fund
Top 3 sectors: Industrial products, banks and construction projects
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 55:14:27:4
Fund manager: Ajay Argal and Kiran Sebastian

HDFC Small Cap Fund
Category: Small Cap Fund
Top 3 sectors: Banks, consumer durables and industrial products
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 4:7:81:8
Fund manager: Chirag Setalvad

UTI Transportation & Logistics Fund
Category: Auto Fund
Top-3 sectors: Automobiles, auto components and transport services
Allocation (%) to large-cap, mid-cap, small-cap and cash: 68:20:6:6
Fund manager: Sachin Trivedi