Portfolio Managers Face The Worst Rout Of The Year

Portfolio managers saw the worst rout of the year in September as concerns around non-bank lenders dragged the market down.

Fifty portfolio managers with equity assets worth Rs 96,770 crore ($13 billion)—85 percent of the money managed by the category—lost on an average 10.4 percent, according to data collected by BloombergQuint from disclosures to the market regulator.

The average fall is higher than Nifty 50's 6.42 percent decline in September—the most in a month since February 2016. The benchmark gauge fell as rising crude prices and a weaker rupee weighed on sentiment. Concerns around non-banking financial services companies after the defaults by Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Ltd. group aggravated the selloff.

Nifty 50 also erased the year's gains and is down 1.73 percent. In comparison, portfolio managers returned a negative 8.9 percent on an average, with only 12 returning gains, year-to-date.

The Best And Worst Returns

Not a single portfolio manager earned a positive return in September. According to the SEBI website, only Motilal Oswal Asset Management returned gains in September. The asset manager, however, clarified to BloombergQuint that it had posted a negative return of 12 percent and is in the process of getting the data rectified on the regulator's website.

Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers was the worst performing portfolio management firm in September, with the value of its investments falling 21.5 percent. So far this year, it has returned 2.5 percent gains.

Equity Intelligence India was the next worst performer for September and has given a negative 41.8 percent return year-to-date. Emailed queries to Basant Maheshwari Wealth Advisers and Equity Intelligence remained unanswered.

(Updates an earlier version with Motilal Oswal's clarification)