Mumbai: For investors who thought simply investing in any multi-asset allocation fund was a sure-shot winning strategy, the past year offered a reality check. Returns from this category, positioned as an all-weather product with allocations spanning equities, debt, precious metals, international equities, REITs and InvITs, ranged from 3.3% to 24.6% in the past year, according to data from ValueMetrics Technologies, reflecting the sharp divergence in performances.The popularity of multi-asset allocation funds soared in the past year, with the category's assets swelling to ₹1.87 lakh crore from ₹1.13 lakh crore a year earlier, as volatile equities and strong but erratic performances in gold and silver made investors to leave asset allocation to fund managers. These funds are mandated to allocate a minimum of 10% to equity, fixed income and precious metals, but the sharp divergence in returns shows that performance hinges less on the category itself and more on whether money managers got their asset allocation calls right. Those with a higher allocation to gold and silver emerged on top. Kotak Multi Asset Allocation, Quant Multi Asset Allocation, DSP Multi Assset Allocation, HSBC Multi Asset Allocation and Bandhan Multi Asset Allocation were among the top performers last year.AgenciesGAINS 3.3% to 24.6% Schemes get popular amid uncertain market scenariosIn the year ahead, with equity markets expected to test money managers again, their challenge will lie in remaining ahead of the curve. "The ability to tactically switch between asset classes, actively manage duration, and selectively position within equities across market caps and sectors will remain important," says R Sivakumar, chief investment officer, Axis Mutual Fund.For instance, Sivakumar believes that while large caps are turning relatively more attractive from a valuation perspective, earnings growth continues to remain better in segments of mid and small caps, making it critical to make selective bets rather than take a broad-based market view. Equity exposure of the top schemes in the category stood in the range of 36% to 73% of their AUM, while allocations to debt and arbitrage were between 14% and 41%, underscoring the variance in asset allocations across fund houses.