Christened the CNBC India-BNP Paribas Mutual Fund of the Year, it will use the world renowned ranking system of Standard & Poor's Micropal to evaluate the entire range of mutual fund schemes in India today.

S&P's Fund Services, as part of their global awards program, conducts 13 awards in 12 countries around the world. "Since we do not manage money and we do not sell funds, S&P's is uniquely positioned to play a pivotal role servicing the funds markets and its award programs, both globally and in India," said S&P's Fund services managing director (Asia Pacific) William J Reidy in a statement on Saturday.

"Our primary and only business is the evaluation of funds based on their past performance (via our workstation products) as well as a host of qualitative criteria (via our fund research products)", he added.

BNP Paribas India chief executive and country manager Jonathan Lyon said, "Given the fact that BNP Paribas is one of the largest distributors of mutual funds amongst all the banks in India, we are delighted to be associated with this award program which will highlight the achievements of the mutual fund industry".

According to CNBC India's chief executive officer Haresh Chawla, the mutual fund industry has played a significant role in developing the equity culture and a healthy long term investing ethos and the award has been instituted to recognise the expertise and performance of this critical investment service.