Best equity fund managers

It takes special effort to manage risks in equity markets. But some fund managers manage to do it with aplomb, and extraordinary discipline, which shows up in returns from their funds.

Topping the Fortune India-Morningstar MF study is Shreyash Devalkar, senior fund manager, equity, Axis Mutual Fund, who manages more than ₹60,000 crore of assets across three schemes — bluechip, midcap and flexicap — which have beaten benchmarks by 2%, 8% and 5%, respectively, during his five-year tenure, Morningstar data shows. Devalkar’s own money, he says, is distributed among various asset classes such as mutual funds (large, mid, small and foreign equity) debt and real estate.

Aniruddha Naha, head, equity at PGIM India Mutual Fund, holds the second spot. He manages four schemes with assets under management of over ₹9,000 crore. “I am a 100% equity guy when it comes to my own money. Most of my investment is through mutual funds,” he says. Naha has over 14 years of experience in the industry. The three schemes that he manages have beaten their benchmarks for the time period he has been managing these — flexicap fund by 8%, smallcap fund by 9% and midcap opportunities fund by 9%, data with Morningstar shows. The balanced advantage fund has given the same returns (16%) as its benchmark CRISIL Hybrid 50+50 Moderate Index.

R. Srinivasan, chief investment officer, equity, SBI Mutual Fund, holds the third spot in the study. He manages close to ₹90,000 crore across diversified, hybrid and a few closed-ended schemes. Being in the industry for 16 years, Srinivasan believes in team effort. “As a fund house, our investing philosophy, our focus on research, and the fairly large, experienced and capable team are the reasons we’ve done a decent job of managing funds,” he says.