Fund review: A winner in all market cycles

MUMBAI: In the past one year, to a large extent, markets have been volatile. Given the fact that demand across sectors is slowly picking up, it makes sense to be with schemes which have seen long market cycles and have consistently beaten the benchmark index by a wide margin. One such scheme is Birla Sun Life Equity.

The scheme, which has been in existence for the past eighteen years, is being managed by Anil Shah since 2012.
The fund manager has maintained its stock-picking strategy of marrying top-down approach with bottom-up as and when required. Besides, the fund manager does not hesitate to take expensive calls as long as earnings visibility is certain. In recent months, post the exit of Britain from the European Union and the downgrade of GDP growth of Eurozone to 0.2% from 0.5%, Shah has taken appropriate calls of booking profits on IT and pharmaceuticals companies.

Also, there is an increasing interest of the scheme's fund manager in companies which are present in niche markets and have high prospects of profitability. He has also bought in a few metal companies as turnaround is transpiring in commodities, especially metals. A few stocks that the scheme has invested in are Tata Steel, Hindustan Zinc, Atul, Bharat Electronics, and Motherson Sumi.

Its portfolio is focused on large companies, which are under-valued with respect to mid-sized firms. It also has a mandate to take about 10% exposure to debt instruments. Investors may consider the scheme as it has beaten its benchmark in all market cycles.