Which investments got best returns in 2020 so far?

Nifty delivered the biggest losses in the list of major asset classes. Investments in Nifty declined by 9.1 per cent since the beginning of the year. Before the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Nifty had recorded its lifetime high of 12,430 on 20 January. It has declined from its peak to 11,073 on 31 July 2020.

Sensex has fallen 9 per cent since the beginning of the year till 31 July. Just like Nifty, Sensex too was having its dream run until coronavirus struck. Sensex had recorded its lifetime high of 42,273.87 on 20 January.

Equity linked savings scheme (ELSS) funds, which are the chosen asset class for tax saving and investment-savvy individuals, have also led to depreciation in wealth. ELSS mutual funds category on average have delivered negative returns of 7.97 per cent since the beginning of the year.

Large cap mutual funds, which invest a large chunk of their corpus into blue-chip companies, have also seen wealth erosion. Since the beginning of the year, large cap mutual fund category on average has lost 7.78 per cent of its value.

Small cap mutual funds have performed better than large cap mutual funds. Small cap mutual funds have seen a negative return of -5.19 per cent.

Mid cap mutual funds has also disappointed investors. Mid cap mutual funds category has delivered a -4.87 per cent losses on investments so far this year.

Real Estate has also seen a dip in value in the first three months of 2020. As per RBI's housing price index (HPI) the value of real estate in India's top 8 cities has fallen by 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2020.

Of the few investments that delivered positive returns in 2020, fixed deposits (FD) with bank was one. A fixed deposit made in the beginning of the calendar year would have delivered a 5 per cent return. This is the third highest return that could have been earned by investors, that too with next to no risk on their investments.

10 grammes of gold could have been bought for Rs 39,108 on 1 January 2020. The price had risen to Rs 53,743 on 31 July, giving investors a stellar return of 37.4 per cent. Analysts at Motilal Oswal expect gold to hit 65,000-mark before the end of the year.