Reliance Life's Life Equity Fund 2 has given a return of 23.69 per cent, while its Life Equity Fund 3 gave a return of 21.28 per cent.

Others with better returns than Nifty include funds managed by Bajaj Allianz Life, Bharti AXA Life, Tata AIA Life, Kotak Mahindra Life and ING Vysya (now known as Exide Life Insurance) with returns ranging from 18-23 per cent.

At least four other funds have also given returns close that that of Nifty and these include ULIPs offered by Max Life, HDFC Standard Life, Birla Sunlife and PNB Metlife.

Estimated total assets under management of Unit-Linked Insurance Plans (ULIPs) across the industry is about Rs 2 lakh crore, which is equally divided among equity and debt.

While the overall performance of the stock market for the last fiscal was bullish in 2013-14, mutual funds also generated robust investor interest and their total asset under management grew by over Rs 40,000 crore during the last fiscal to about Rs 8.6 lakh crore as on March 31, 2014.

(With inputs from PTI)

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