INSURANCE FUNDS GIVE GOOD RETURNS

Amid turbulent times in the stock market, at least ten funds managed by the life insurers have given better returns than the stock market benchmark index with gains of as high as 12.4 per cent in the last fiscal. The market barometer index Nifty gave 7.31 per cent return during the fiscal ended March 31, 2012, as turbulent times towards the end of the financial year pared earlier gains on Dalal Street. In comparison, at least ten market-focussed life insurance funds have a return higher than 7.31 per cent, shows an analysis of life insurance fund performance for 2012-13. These funds invest the money collected from policyholders in the stocks as per the authorisation taken from customers. 

Topping the list, SBI Life's Horizon Equity Fund gave a return of 12.39 per cent, while there are two funds managed by Reliance Life in the top-five -- at third and fifth places. The second best return came from Tata AIA Life's Invest Assure Equity Fund (9.96 per cent), followed by Reliance Life's Life Equity Fund 3 (9.76 per cent), Bharti AXA's Grow Money fund (9.22 per cent) and Reliance Life's Life Equity Fund 2 (8.76 per cent). Others having given a better return than Nifty include funds managed by Bajaj Allianz, Kotak Mahindra Life, PNB Met Life, Birla Sun Life and Aviva Life. Their returns for the year were in the range of 9.68 per cent to 8.69 per cent. Among other life insurers, ICICI Prudential's Life Time Maximiser fund gave a return of 6.25 per cent, Max New York Life's Growth Super Fund gave 5.93 per cent, ING Vysya Life's Equity Fund's return for the year was 5.12 per cent and HDFC Standard Life's Growth Fund 4.76 per cent. Estimated total assets under management of Unit-Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs) across the industry is Rs 2 lakh crore, which is equally divided among equity and debt. While the overall performance of the stock market for the entire fiscal was not very bullish in 2012-13, the mutual funds also generated robust investor interest and their total asset under management grew by over Rs 1.5 lakh crore (23 per cent) to reach Rs 8.2 lakh crore at the end of the year. Mutual funds collect money from investors and later invest the same into various market segments including stocks, IPOs (primary market) and bonds.