MF + Term Insurance + technical/situational stock picking + ppf + pf - usually works best.
But this needs a lot of personal time investment.
Same for SIP, you might start sip in best performing funds today, say quant funds, but no one will tell you that risk adjusted returns are not that great with quant. There are better options. By the time one understands this, you would have lost intiatial years for your job.
Similarly until you are investing small amount compared to your monthly take home, it's all a good sport. One gets serious when monthly investment to salary in hand is huge and equity exposure of the total portfolio is beyond 70-80%.
People with money and no time - tend to move to pms.
People with monthly money - tend to move to sips.
New entrants to equity - try products like small case. ( It takes time to even understand what it takes to be in the market )
They all will continue to exist.
And, percentage return is not the only criteria to be evaluated. Risk Management + Capital Allocation plays a greater role than just %return.