SBI Mutual Fund is the Mutual Fund of the year at CNBC-TV18 – CRISIL Mutual Fund Awards

MUMBAI: In a glittering ceremony, CNBC-TV18, India's leading Business Medium and CRISIL, India's premier ratings agency announced the most sought after and valued Mutual Fund Award in the country - 'CNBC-TV18 – CRISIL Mutual Fund of the Year Award'.

Mark Tucker, Chief Executive of Prudential & Ajay Srinivasan, Chief Executive, Fund Management, Prudential Corporation Asia spoke on the performance of mutual funds across the world, emerging trends, investor reactions and expectations setting the tone for the evening. This was followed by a p anel discussion with Mr Ramesh Damani, Mr Jaikumar, Mr Kela and Mr Naganathan moderated by Udayan Mukherjee.

As the most powerful radar to prosperity, the CNBC TV18 and CRISIL Mutual Fund of the Year awards performance and consistency in wealth creation of enterprising fund houses for the year 2006. These Awards, based on CRISIL's objective and analytically rigorous CRISIL~CPR methodology, are the ultimate test in performance and consistency on one of the most distinguished platform.

These awards are the Investors most definite guide to the best managed fund house in the country. It brings together the world's most renowned investment experts and shares their ideas, philosophies and predictions.

The winners in the various categories at the Mutual Fund of the Year were:

In addition to leaders from various fund houses, luminaries from India's financial services sector including senior regulators, leading economists and analysts witnessed a host of awards being presented to various mutual funds for their consistent performance over time on the CRISIL~CPR performance rankings framework.

Commenting on the methodology Rupa Kudva, ED & Chief Rating Officer,CRISIL, said "The fund house of the year award is given to the mutual fund which performs well in CRISIL's CPR framework, has a good presence across categories, and wins at least 2 category level awards"

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Haresh Chawla, CEO, TV18 Group said, "The size of the Mutual fund industry is a burgeoning Rs 3,39,662 crore indicating the popularity enjoyed by Mutual funds amongst investors who want to participate in India's growth story. Increased popularity in Mutual funds as an investment avenue and a spurt in the number of innovative mutual funds calls for a robust, unbiased and objective evaluation of the annual performances of funds. Since its inception, 'The CNBC-TV18 – CRISIL Mutual Fund of the Year Award' has established a benchmark for excellence in the Mutual Fund industry and has over the years, assisted investors to make the right choices in their mutual fund investments."

Speaking on the initiative, Mr. Ashvin Arora, Director, OptiMix, said, "CNBC Mutual Fund awards is a landmark event in the Indian Mutual Fund Industry, which recognizes and rewards the best managed fund houses on the basis of objective performance criteria laid down by Crisil. As India's first multi-manager, Optimix identifies best of breed mutual funds and blends them together into separate products, so that optimal combinations of expertise and style are available to the investor. The Optimix process helps the investor with superior, consistent wealth creation. All in all, this is a great fit and we are proud to be associated with the CNBC TV-18-Crisil Mutual Fund Awards 2007. My heartiest congratulations to the winners of this prestigious award."