Aditya Birla Sun Life Frontline Equity Fund: Fund review

In uncertain times, it is a prudent move to invest in schemes that have weathered large number of market cycles. This is the best possible way to manage risk. Among the schemes that have been in existence for more than 10 years in the large cap category is Aditya Birla Frontline Equity.

Fund manager Mahesh Patil has been managing the scheme since the past 13 years. This long experience of managing the scheme has paid off. Patil has constructed a scheme which has stable and well-diversified companies. He stayed away from energy stocks which worked since oil marketing companies were hit by the government’s decision to cut excise duty on petrol.



In the past six months, the scheme has diversified its investments across financials, FMCG and IT sectors. This has capped the downside of the portfolio in falling markets. Given the macro challenges — both sectoral and economical — it is more relevant now to be invested with large, proven and established players.

Aditya Birla Frontline Equity is relatively safe bet given its performance and fund manager Mahesh Patil’s ability to identify stable stocks that boost returns of the portfolio.

In the past three-year and five-year periods, the scheme has given 8.1% and 15.3 % returns while its benchmark index Nifty Total Return has given 9% and 13.1% returns in the same period respectively.

Portfolio change (past six months)

New entrants	Complete exits	Increase in allocation
Eicher Motors	ONGC	ICICI Pru Life Insurance
	Vodafone Idea	Tata Consultancy Services
	Hindustan Zinc	Tata Steel
	GSK Consumer Healthcare	Petronet LNG

Returns (in %)

Period	CSGR returns	SIP CAGR return	Diversified largecap average CAGR
1-year	-3.90	-12.76	-1.34
3-year	8.03	5.54	7.70
5-year	15.37	9.14	14.44

Returns peer comparison (in %)

Scheme name	1-year	3-year	5-year
Aditya Birla Sun Life Focused Equity Fund	-3.42	7.94	15.87
Reliance ETF Junior BeES	-6.33	9.48	18.07
SBI Bluechip Fund	-4.05	6.99	16.06

*Source: Accord Fintech, compiled by: ETIG Database

Expert take :
Rupesh Bhansali, head-mutual funds, GEPL Capital
In falling markets, it makes sense to be with schemes whose portfolio is geared towards largecaps. Also, the size of a scheme is important in case an investor plans for redemption. In both cases, Aditya Birla Frontline Equity Fund fits well. To a large extent, it caps the downside. Investors can consider investing in this scheme with at least five years in mind to benefit completely from the stock selection of the scheme's fund manager.