Before investing in a mutual fund plan, it is interesting to look at the pasted returns of this plan compared to other plans in the same category. Although past returns do not constitute a plan’s future returns, they are still important in understanding a plan’s future investment potential.

Other factors that investors are recommended to consider before opting for a mutual fund include, among others, the reputation of the fund management company, the category of the scheme and the overall macroeconomic situation.

Here we list the mutual funds that have managed to beat the benchmark index over the last five years.

What are advantage balanced funds?

In Advantage balanced funds, investment in stocks and debt is managed dynamically (0-100% in stocks and 0-100% in debt).

They fall into the category of hybrid mutual fundsand are also known as dynamic asset allocation funds.

(Source: AMFI, returns as of November 29)

As we can see from the table above, five mutual funds managed to beat the benchmark (NIFTY 50 Hybrid Composite Debt 50:50 Index), which returned 12.06%.

The Baroda BNP Paribas Balanced Advantage Fund generated an annualized return of 16.23 per cent per annum, higher than the benchmark index of 12.06 per cent. Edelweiss Advantage Balanced Fundmeanwhile, generated an annualized return of 14.89 percent against a benchmark return of 12.06 percent.

The HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund returned 20.05%, the highest CAGR return in the last five years. Other schemes that managed to beat the benchmark return are Kotak Balanced Advantage Fund and Sundaram Balanced Advantage Fund.

From a fund size perspective, the largest Balanced Advantage Funds include the HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund (assets under management of ₹95,546.42 crore) and Kotak Balanced Advantage Fund (assets under management of ₹16,957.36 crores).

It should be noted that historical returns are no guarantee of a plan’s future returns. In other words, just because a system has performed extremely well in the past does not necessarily mean it will perform the same way in the future.

(Note: This story is for informational purposes only. Please speak to a SEBI registered investment advisor before making any investment related decisions.)