Best PMS in India 2026: How to Actually Pick One (Without the Marketing Noise)

Updated February 2026 | All performance data as of December 31, 2025 (Calendar Year 2025) unless stated otherwise

Every January, a dozen websites publish their "Best PMS in India" list. The rankings change. The names rotate. And somehow, every PMS provider ends up being "the best" on someone's list.

This isn't that article.

This is a framework — built on data from 1,257 PMS strategies — for how to actually evaluate a PMS before you commit ₹50 lakhs of your hard-earned money. No affiliate links. No listicle rankings. Just the metrics that separate genuine alpha from well-marketed mediocrity.

I've managed ₹7,000 crore in treasury operations, ₹12,500 crore in lending AUM, and now run a SEBI-registered PMS. I've seen the industry from inside the machine. What follows is what I wish every investor knew before signing a PMS agreement.

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The PMS Industry in 2026: A Quick Reality Check

Before we talk about picking the "best," let's understand what we're choosing from.

Metric	Data (as of Dec 31, 2025)
Total SEBI-registered portfolio managers	487
Total PMS strategies tracked	1,257 (1,115 equity + 142 multi-asset)
Total PMS industry AUM	₹41.59 lakh crore (incl. advisory, EPFO)
Investable PMS market (non-EPFO/PF)	₹8.63 lakh crore
Total discretionary PMS clients	~2.05 lakh
SEBI-mandated minimum investment	₹50 lakhs

Sources: SEBI Report of Portfolio Managers (Dec 31, 2025), APMI, Grey Sky Capital PMS Performance Monitor.

487 registered managers. 1,257 strategies. And you need to pick one. The odds of getting it right by reading a "Top 10" listicle are roughly the same as picking a winning stock by throwing darts.

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Part 1: The CY 2025 Performance Reality — Why "Best" Is a Moving Target

Let's start with the data that most "Best PMS" articles won't show you.

How Equity PMS Performed in CY 2025

Metric	Equity PMS (964 strategies with 1Y data)
Mean return	+0.25%
Median return	+0.26%
Top decile (P90)	+10.45%
Top quartile (P75)	+6.29%
Bottom quartile (P25)	-4.77%
Bottom decile (P10)	-12.04%
Best performer	+41.81%
Worst performer	-51.40%
Strategies with positive returns	51.0%
Strategies beating Nifty 50 (+10.5%)	9.8%

Source: Grey Sky Capital PMS Performance Monitor (Dec 31, 2025). Post-fee returns as reported to SEBI.

Read that last row again. Fewer than 1 in 10 equity PMS strategies beat the Nifty 50 in CY 2025.

The spread from best to worst: 93 percentage points. The difference between the top decile (+10.45%) and bottom decile (-12.04%): 22.5 percentage points. In mutual funds, this spread is typically 15-25 percentage points. In PMS, it's a canyon.

This is exactly why "best PMS" lists are dangerous. Last year's #1 can be this year's bottom quartile. The dispersion in PMS outcomes is so extreme that a generic ranking is almost meaningless without understanding the framework behind the numbers.

But Wait — Multi-Asset PMS Told a Different Story

Category	Strategies	Mean Return	Median Return
Equity PMS	964	+0.25%	+0.26%
Multi-Asset PMS	103	+9.62%	+10.29%
Nifty 50 (benchmark)	—	+10.5%	—

Source: Grey Sky Capital PMS Performance Monitor (Dec 31, 2025).

Multi-asset PMS averaged 38x the returns of equity-only PMS in CY 2025. Not a typo. +9.62% versus +0.25%.

This isn't because multi-asset managers are smarter. It's structural. By dynamically allocating between equity, gold, and debt, these strategies captured gold's +25% rally and debt's stability while limiting exposure to equity drawdowns. Strategy type — not just manager skill — drives outcomes.

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Part 2: The 5 Metrics That Actually Matter

Forget star ratings. Forget AUM size. Forget brand names. Here are the five numbers that separate genuine alpha from noise.

1. Risk-Adjusted Returns (Information Ratio)

Raw returns are meaningless without context. A PMS that delivers 25% returns with 30% volatility is inferior to one delivering 18% with 12% volatility.

The Information Ratio (IR) measures alpha per unit of tracking error. It answers: "For every unit of risk you took beyond the benchmark, how much extra return did you generate?"

Information Ratio	What It Means
Below 0.0	Underperforming after adjusting for risk. Avoid.
0.0 – 0.3	Marginal alpha. Could be luck.
0.3 – 0.5	Decent. Evidence of some skill.
0.5 – 0.7	Strong. Consistently outperforming with controlled risk.
Above 0.7	Exceptional. Very few strategies sustain this.

Guideline: Look for IR above 0.5 sustained over 3–5 years. Anything above 0.7 for 5+ years is genuinely rare and valuable.

2. Maximum Drawdown

The maximum peak-to-trough decline tells you how much pain to expect. It's the real test of whether you can stay invested.

Consider: a PMS that falls 40% from peak needs to gain 67% just to break even. One that falls 20% only needs 25%. The maths of recovery is brutally asymmetric.

Drawdown	Recovery Needed to Break Even
-10%	+11.1%
-20%	+25.0%
-30%	+42.9%
-40%	+66.7%
-50%	+100.0%

The "best" PMS is one whose worst drawdown you can actually survive without exiting. Most investors overestimate their risk tolerance by 2x.

3. Consistency Across Calendar Years

A PMS that ranks in the top decile one year and the bottom quartile the next is a momentum trader, not a wealth compounder.

What to look for: strategies that rank in the top half across 3+ consecutive calendar years. This is harder than it sounds — fewer than 15% of equity PMS strategies manage it consistently.

4. Performance Through Bear Markets

CY 2025 was a stress test. So was March 2020 and the Sep 2024 – Mar 2025 correction. How a PMS behaves when markets fall 15-30% is the single most revealing metric.

Ask specifically: during the September 2024 to March 2025 correction (Nifty Smallcap 250 fell ~26%), what happened to the strategy?

Response	What It Tells You
Fell more than benchmark	High beta, concentrated. Amplifies both ups and downs.
Fell roughly in line	Market-correlated. You're paying PMS fees for index-like behaviour.
Fell less than benchmark	Defensive positioning or hedging. Good for wealth preservation.
Positive or flat	Multi-asset or absolute return approach. Structural downside protection.

5. Fee-Adjusted Net Alpha

PMS fees are significantly higher than mutual funds. The typical all-in cost:

Fee Component	Typical Range
Fixed management fee	1.5% – 2.5% per annum
Performance fee	10% – 20% of profits above hurdle
GST on fees	18% of fee amount
Custody/admin charges	0.1% – 0.3%
Effective all-in cost (good year)	2.5% – 5.0%

A PMS delivering 18% gross but charging 4% all-in gives you 14% net. A direct-plan flexi cap mutual fund delivering 15% with a 0.6% expense ratio gives you 14.4% net. The mutual fund wins — and you didn't need ₹50 lakhs.

The "best" PMS must deliver enough gross alpha to justify 2-4% higher fees. Over 10 years on ₹1 crore, a 2% annual fee difference compounds to ₹22 lakh in lost wealth. The alpha has to be real, consistent, and large enough to overcome this drag.

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Part 3: The 7 Red Flags to Watch For

In my 18 years in financial services, these are the patterns that reliably predict disappointment:

🚩 Red Flag #1: Showing only "since inception" returns from a bull market start date. A PMS that launched in March 2020 (market bottom) will show spectacular since-inception CAGR. It means nothing. Demand rolling 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year returns across different starting points.

🚩 Red Flag #2: No SEBI-disclosed returns on the APMI website. SEBI mandates that all portfolio managers disclose performance on the APMI portal. If a PMS provider shows returns on their marketing material but you can't verify them on apmiindia.org — walk away.

🚩 Red Flag #3: "Our strategy has never had a negative year." Either the track record is too short, the strategy launched at a market bottom, or you're being lied to. Every strategy has drawdowns. The honest ones show them.

🚩 Red Flag #4: AUM growing faster than returns justify. A PMS strategy managing ₹50 crore can make concentrated bets in small caps. At ₹5,000 crore, those same bets create market impact. Capacity constraints are real — and most PMS providers won't tell you when they've hit them.

🚩 Red Flag #5: No skin in the game. Does the fund manager invest their own money in the same strategy? If they're managing your ₹50 lakh while their own wealth is in fixed deposits, that tells you everything about their conviction.

🚩 Red Flag #6: Strategy drift without disclosure. A "multi-cap" PMS that suddenly goes 80% small-cap because small caps rallied is chasing performance, not following a process. Ask for the investment policy statement and check whether recent portfolio actions match it.

🚩 Red Flag #7: Fee opacity. If you can't get a clear, all-in fee calculation — including GST, performance fee with hurdle rate, high-water mark mechanism, and exit load — within two meetings, the complexity is designed to obscure, not to protect you.

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Part 4: A Framework for Shortlisting (Not a "Top 10" List)

Instead of telling you which specific PMS is "the best" (a question that changes every quarter), here's the evaluation framework I'd use if I were allocating ₹50 lakh – ₹5 crore today:

Step 1: Filter by Strategy Type

Decide what you're solving for:

If Your Goal Is…	Consider	Why
Maximum long-term wealth creation (10Y+)	Concentrated equity PMS (15-20 stocks)	Highest upside potential, but highest volatility
Steady compounding with controlled drawdowns	Multi-asset PMS (equity + gold + debt)	CY 2025 proved the case: +9.62% avg vs +0.25% for equity PMS
Factor-based/systematic exposure	Quant PMS (momentum, value, quality factors)	Rules-based, removes behavioral error, repeatable
Capital preservation with moderate growth	Balanced / conservative PMS	Lower equity allocation, debt-heavy, for retirees or near-retirees

Step 2: Apply the 5-Point Filter

For any strategy that passes Step 1, check:

✅ IR above 0.5 over 3+ years — eliminates ~80% of strategies
✅ Maximum drawdown within your tolerance — if you can't survive -25%, don't pick a strategy that's experienced it
✅ Top-half consistency across 3+ calendar years — eliminates one-hit wonders
✅ Bear market behaviour aligns with expectations — did it protect when it mattered?
✅ Net-of-fee alpha exceeds 2% over the benchmark — otherwise, buy an index fund

Step 3: Due Diligence Checklist

Before signing:

☐ Verify returns on APMI website — don't trust marketing decks
☐ Read the Disclosure Document cover-to-cover (it's mandated by SEBI)
☐ Understand the fee structure in writing — fixed fee, performance fee, hurdle rate, high-water mark, GST, exit load
☐ Ask about capacity — what's the AUM cap for this strategy?
☐ Meet the actual fund manager, not just the sales team
☐ Ask what they own personally — skin in the game matters
☐ Get the complete drawdown history, not just trailing returns

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Part 5: The Longer-Term Data — What Survives Across Cycles

One year of data is noise. Here's what the longer-term numbers show:

Metric	Equity PMS 3Y CAGR (670 strategies)	Equity PMS 5Y CAGR (520 strategies)
Mean	15.88%	16.19%
Median	16.13%	15.52%
P90 (Top decile)	25.01%	25.54%
P10 (Bottom decile)	6.90%	8.09%
% Positive	93.1%	94.2%

Source: Grey Sky Capital PMS Performance Monitor (Dec 31, 2025).

Over 5 years, the median equity PMS delivered 15.52% CAGR — beating the Nifty 50's ~13.3% price CAGR. 94.2% of PMS strategies with a 5-year track record were in positive territory.

And the top decile? 25.54% CAGR for 5 years. On ₹1 crore, that's the difference between ₹3.1 crore (Nifty 50) and ₹8.1 crore (top decile PMS). Manager selection — done right — creates generational wealth differences.

The PMS Bazaar 10-year study (July 2024) found that the top 10 PMS strategies with a decade-long track record delivered 20-30% CAGR, with the best performer at 29.58%. Over 10 years, PMS outperformed benchmarks 70% of the time, while mutual funds managed 48%.

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Part 6: The ₹1 Crore, 10-Year Scenario

Let's make this concrete. ₹1 crore invested for 10 years under different scenarios:

Scenario	Assumed Gross Return	Fees	Net Return	Final Value
Nifty 50 Index Fund	12%	~0.2%	11.8%	₹3.05 crore
Top Flexi Cap MF (Direct)	16%	~0.7%	15.3%	₹4.20 crore
Median Equity PMS	17.5%	~2.5%	15.0%	₹4.05 crore
Top Quartile Equity PMS	22%	~3.5%	18.5%	₹5.45 crore
Top Decile Equity PMS	27%	~4.0%	23.0%	₹7.93 crore
Bottom Quartile Equity PMS	10%	~2.0%	8.0%	₹2.16 crore

Illustrative projections to show fee impact and the range of outcomes. Actual returns will vary. Past performance is not indicative of future returns.

The difference between top decile (₹7.93 crore) and bottom quartile (₹2.16 crore) is ₹5.77 crore on the same ₹1 crore investment. That's why this evaluation framework matters more than any "Top 10" list.

And notice: the median equity PMS (₹4.05 crore) barely beats a top flexi cap mutual fund (₹4.20 crore) after fees. If you pick an average PMS, you're paying 3-4x more in fees for roughly the same outcome. PMS only makes sense if your evaluation process puts you in the top quartile or above.

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Where Grey Sky Capital Fits

We built Grey Sky Capital to address the structural problems this data reveals:

Multi-asset, not equity-only. CY 2025 showed that strategy type matters as much as stock-picking. Our Smart Core Portfolio dynamically allocates between equity (via Nifty LargeMidcap 250), gold, and debt with 0-100% ranges — driven by quantitative signals, not gut feel. The multi-asset PMS category averaged +9.62% in CY 2025 while equity PMS averaged +0.25%.

Systematic, not discretionary. Every allocation decision follows a rules-based framework. No star fund manager making hero calls. No behavioural error. The same process runs whether markets are euphoric or panicking.

Transparent fee structure. Performance-linked fees with a clear high-water mark. If we don't outperform, we don't charge performance fees. No hidden costs, no complexity designed to confuse.

Data-driven evaluation tools. We built the PMS Performance Monitor — covering 1,257 strategies — because we believe informed investors make better decisions. Even if they don't choose us.

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The Bottom Line

There is no single "Best PMS in India." There is only the best PMS for your specific situation — your risk tolerance, your time horizon, your tax profile, and your ability to stay invested through drawdowns.

The data is clear on three things:

First: Over 5-10 years, the top quartile of PMS strategies creates significantly more wealth than mutual funds or index funds. The numbers justify the fees — but only if you're in the top quartile.

Second: The median PMS, after fees, barely beats a good flexi cap mutual fund. "Average" PMS is not worth the complexity or the higher minimum.

Third: Strategy type — particularly multi-asset vs. equity-only — is as important as manager selection. CY 2025 proved this dramatically.

Don't pick a PMS from a listicle. Pick one from a framework. The five metrics above — Information Ratio, drawdown, consistency, bear-market behaviour, and net-of-fee alpha — will serve you better than any star rating ever could.

Your ₹50 lakhs deserves that rigour.

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Data sources: SEBI Report of Portfolio Managers (Dec 31, 2025), APMI, Grey Sky Capital PMS Performance Monitor (Dec 31, 2025 — analysis of 1,257 PMS strategies), PMS Bazaar (10-Year Review July 2024), AMFI (Dec 2025).

Investment in securities market is subject to market risks. Read all related documents carefully before investing. Past performance is not indicative of future returns.

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