Open-ended equity funds continued to out-perform all other mutual fund categories, posting returns of about 82.7 per cent in the one year ended October 2003.

In a media release, Crisil said on a risk-adjusted return (RRR) basis, the top performers in the open-ended equity diversified category were Alliance Basic Industries Fund, each with a Crisil RRR-1 ranking.

Reliance Vision Fund followed at the next level, at Crisil RRR-2 followed by Prudential ICICI Power at Crisil RRR-3. These three funds were the top performers in September too on a one year basis.

In software, the top performers were Birla India Opportunities Fund - Plan B - Growth (formerly Birla IT Fund - Plan B - Growth) was at Crisil RRR-1 and Franklin Internet Opportunities Fund at Crisil RRR-2.

The best performing sector continues to be banking with the State Bank of India scrip being the most favoured among fund managers.

The deferment of BPCL and HPCL privatisation seems to have affected the performance of the BSE PSU index, which ended the month with a symbolic return of 0.16 per cent. The FMCG sector continues to under-perform the indices, posting a 0.83 per cent decline in October.

In the Balanced funds category, while Prudential ICICI Balance Fund moved up to Crisil RRR-1 rankings, HDFC Prudence Fund retained its Crisil RRR-2 ranking.

The rally in the equity markets has been boosting the performance of balanced funds, as the funds tend to move their investments towards equity.

In the Monthly Income Plan category Birla Monthly Income Plan C moved three levels up to Crisil RRR-1 while Principal MIP moved down to Crisil RRR-2.

Among the Index Funds category, on a one-year tracking error, Principal Index Fund and UTI Nifty Index Fund were at Crisil RRR-1 and Crisil RRR-2 rankings, respectively.

In the open-end Debt category, SBI Magnum Income Fund-Growth and First India Income Fund - Growth retained the Crisil RRR-1and Crisil RRR-2 rankings, respectively, for the one-year period ended October 2003.

The funds continued to be top performers on a risk-adjusted return basis due to low volatility. The one-month return for the income funds, which was at 0.86 per cent in September (year-on-year), slipped to 0.38 per cent in October.

The one-year performance of gilt-long term category continued to be momentum-driven with the funds in Crisil's universe returning about 20 per cent.

Tata Gilt Securities fund - Appreciation and SBI Magnum Gilt Fund-Long-Term-Growth have maintained their Crisil RRR-1 and Crisil RRR-2 for the one year period.