Eight New Family Members

The month of May, 2008 saw eight new additions to the Value Research Star Ratings family. With these eight new funds, the total count of rated mutual funds has reached 493. Of these eight funds, four are from Fidelity, three from Lotus and one from HSBC. And amongst the newcomers, Fidelity Equity has straightaway debuted as a four-star rated fund.

The past month also saw as many as nine funds moving up to the very elite five-star category. They were Principal MIP, DSPML Balanced, FT India Life Stage FoF 50s Plus Floating Rate, ICICI Prudential Gilt Investment PF, Sundaram BNP Paribas Tax Saver, Kotak Opportunities, ING Liquid Super Inst. and ICICI Prudential Liquid Inst I .

As far as the fund houses with most five-star rated funds are concerned, the honours were shared by SBI, Birla SunLife, ICICI Prudential and DSP ML, each with 4 five-star funds. April's top fund house, HDFC lost two funds from this category and was left with only three five-star rated funds. HDFC Prudence and HDFC Tax Saver were dragged down to the four-star ratings.

In the four-star category, ICICI Prudential came out on tops with 13 four-star funds. The fund house also emerged as the winner with most five-star and four-star funds.

In the category of equity diversified funds, Kotak Opportunities has regained its status of being a five star rated fund, which it had lost the in the month of April. All other five-star funds in the category have maintained their position intact.

Four funds in this category moved one step up the ladder to become four star rated funds, which include Sundaram BNP Paribas India Leadership Reg, Tata Equity Opportunities, Tata Equity PE and Templeton India Growth. Of these, Tata Equity PE has acquired the four-star status for the first time in its life whereas the others regained their lost status.

The most significant change in rank was in case of Birla Sun life GSF Short-term which has been pushed two steps down to a single star status. The fall in its rating can be attributed to a fall in its return (the fund has given lower returns compared to the category).

Other funds that were pushed down to the lowest rating grade are ABN AMRO MIP, ICICI Prudential Discovery, JM Balanced, JM G-Sec Regular Plan, JM Income, Magnum Emerging Businesses and Magnum Floating Rate LT Retail,

In all, there were 39 upgrades and 36 downgrades in the month, while 410 maintained a status quo.

Fund Family: How They Stack Up AMC Name    *    **    ***    ****    ***** Birla Sunlife   4   5   17   10   4 DSP ML   2   4   5   1   4 ICICI Prudential   1   6   14   13   4 SBI   5   5   11   3   4 Deutsche   -   3   1   2   3 Franklin Templeton   -   4   19   11   3 HDFC   1   9   11   7   3 Principal   2   4   6   5   3 IDFC   2   4   3   3   3 Tata   -   6   11   11   3 DBS Chola   2   3   4   1   2 HSBC   -   3   4   6   2 Kotak Mahindra   1   3   10   4   2 LIC   6   6   3   2   2 Reliance   1   3   5   7   2 UTI Mutual Fund   4   7   15   5   2 ABN AMRO   2   1   3   -   1 BoB   3   5   1   -   1 ING   1   4   6   3   1 Sundaram BNP Paribas   1   7   6   3   1 Benchmark   2   -   1   1   - Canara Robeco   1   1   5   5   - Escorts   -   4   4   -   - Fidelity   1   2   1   2   - J M   4   6   2   1   - Lotus India   -   -   3   -   - Quantum   -   -   1   -   - Sahara   -   1   2   4   - Taurus   4   2   1   -   -