Fund Review: SBI Magnum Balanced Fund

One of the best ways to play volatility in markets is to park money in a balanced fund with a sufficiently long-term view. Going by the nature of balanced funds, one gets best of both the worlds -equity and debt. SBI Magnum Balanced Fund is among the best performing balanced funds. SBI Magnum is a unique offering from SBI as it blends three aspects. First, one-third of the fund is dedicated to mid-sized companies. Second, it also functions as the fund house's bluechip scheme by investing in large growth companies. Third, the scheme provides investors exposure to debt like a dynamic bond fund where the scheme benefits by playing the duration strategy of debt instruments.

Given these factors, the scheme has consistently beaten its peers. In the past three-year and five-year periods, the scheme has delivered 24% and 15% returns, respectively, while its category has given 20% and 14.5%, respectively in the same period. At present, the scheme has exposure to well-established large-sized companies and to the ones which are in the process of becoming large, thanks to their of becoming large, thanks to their improving market share and higher earnings growth.A few prominent companies which are part of the scheme's portfolio are Bajaj Holdings & Investment, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation, Equitas Holdings, Jubilant FoodWorks, Larsen & Toubro Infotech and Maruti Suzuki India.