Mutual Fund Returns Fall

Mumbai: The current financial year has proved to be a year of plenty for India's mutual fund industry as it's asset size reached Rs 3 lakh crore for the first time. The year also marked foray of global fund houses like J P Morgan, UBS, AIG and Nikko, while Standard Chartered made an exit from its India AMC business. The Indian mutual fund industry, acclaimed as the top return-yielding destination, has lived up to its reputation. Some of the best performing schemes gave a return of up to 65 per cent during the 2006 calendar year. Compared with the previous financial year, the returns have declined, mainly due to a decline in the stock prices. The net asset value of most equity funds fell nearly 10 per cent since January 2007. In spite of the fluctuations in the prices of banking and IT stocks, funds dedicated to these have given healthy returns on investments, while diversified and tax saver schemes have managed to perform better than their respective benchmarks.