Portfolio Managers To India’s Rich Lost Money In June Quarter 

India’s rich lost money in stocks in the first quarter as the broader market declined.

The top 10 portfolio managers handling $6.8 billion for wealthy Indians gave an average negative return of 2.1 percent in the quarter ended June, according to BloombergQuint’s calculations based on market regulator’s data. Seven out of 10 lost money.

India’s Nifty 50 gained nearly 5 percent during the period. But that masks the trend in the broader market with small- and mid-cap indices falling 22 percent and 14 percent during the period. The decline in portfolio managers’ returns was largely driven by their exposure to mid caps.

The top 10 managers, which handle assets for 86,539 wealthy clients, added nearly 4,800 clients during the period, according to data by Securities and Exchange Board of India.

Portfolio managers parked 91 percent of the assets under management in equities, followed by mutual funds at 5.5 percent. Portfolio managers usually invest temporary cash in liquid funds.

ICICI Prudential AMC had the highest 18 percent invested in mutual funds, followed by Alchemy Capital’s 13 percent, Kotak AMC’s 8 percent and ASK Investment Managers’ 1.8 percent, according to BloombergQuint’s calculations. Motilal Oswal had all its funds deployed in listed stocks.

Alchemy Capital was the most aggressive with the highest churn in its portfolio. The fund had a portfolio turnover ratio—cumulative purchase to total assets—of 1.9 in the first quarter, according to BloombergQuint’s calculations. In June alone, it had total assets of Rs 5,123 crore against a cumulative purchase of Rs 11,463 crore, giving it a portfolio turnover ratio of 2.2, according to SEBI data.