Birla Sun Life Tops The Charts

The Value Research Fund Rating for the month of December saw as many as six funds gain entry into the Value Research Five Star Funds family. These esteemed funds were Birla Income Plus, Principal Child Benefit, Principal MIP, ICICI Prudential Income Multiplier Reg, Grindlays GSF PF Inst and ING Domestic Opportunities.

ING Domestic Opportunities finally earned the five star tag after a three month wait. This is the fund's first ever five-star holding.

It was also a first time entry into the five star family for Principal MIP Plan, after a rating life of four years. Another significant improvement has been made by Birla Floating Rate LT. After fluctuating between the two and three star ratings, Birla Floating Rate LT has moved up two steps to become a 4 star fund thanks to its improved returns and reduced risk.

Things were however not so good for ICICI Prudential Dynamic. After enjoying the four star rating for six successive months, the fund fell back to the two star category in the month of November, but now it is trying to regain its position and scored a three star rating for the month of December.

HSBC Equity has made a smart recovery as far as the ratings are concerned. After languishing in the three star fund family for eleven months, the fund has again gained entry into the four star category. This fund started its rating life with a four star tag but at the beginning of this year it had slipped down to 3 stars.

This month, while six funds earned the five star rating, the same number of funds lost their 5-star tag. Taurus Libra Bond slipped to become a 1-star fund after enjoying the 3-star tag for the past twelve months.

As far as the fund families are concerned, the top position is jointly shared by Birla Sun Life AMC and ICICI Prudential AMC with six of its funds finding a place in the top-rated category. Closely following it is SBI Mutual; lagging behind by just one step with five 5-star rated funds.

However, when we combine the number of four and five star funds: Birla Sun Life AMC tops the chart with 16 four star rated funds and 6 five star rated funds. ICICI Prudential AMC comes at the second position with ten 4-star rated funds and six 5-star rated funds.

On the whole, of the total 463 rated funds, 35 funds have been upgraded and almost as many 36 funds, downgraded. 392 funds have maintained a status quo.

Fund Families: How they Stack Up AMC Name    *    **    ***    ****    ***** ABN AMRO   2   -   2   1   - Benchmark   2   -   2   -   - Birla Sunlife   3   5   9   16   6 BoB   4   3   2   -   - Canara Robeco   2   3   4   4   - DBS Chola   2   1   4   1   1 Deutsche   1   3   3   1   1 DSP ML   2   4   4   4   1 Escorts   1   4   3   -   - Fidelity   -   -   -   1   - Franklin Templeton   -   6   22   6   2 HDFC   3   6   8   8   4 HSBC   1   1   5   6   - ICICI Prudential   -   4   18   10   6 ING   1   5   5   3   1 J M   1   8   3   1   - Kotak Mahindra   1   2   10   4   2 LIC   4   4   6   3   1 Principal   1   6   4   5   4 Quantum   -   -   1   -   - Reliance   1   2   6   5   3 Sahara   -   1   3   2   - SBI   4   6   10   2   5 Standard Chartered   2   4   5   3   1 Sundaram BNP Paribas   2   7   4   3   1 Tata   1   3   10   11   4 Taurus   4   1   1   -   - UTI Mutual Fund   2   13   8   5   4 As on December 31, 2007