Fund Pick: Why Canara Robeco Bluechip Equity Fund is a winner

Long-term wealth creator

Launched in August 2010, Canara Robeco Bluechip Equity Fund has featured in the top 30 percentile of the large-cap funds category of CRISIL Mutual Fund Ranking (CMFR) for 13 consecutive quarters through September 2021.

Shridatta Bhandwaldar and Vishal Mishra have been managing the fund since July 2016 and June 2021, respectively. The fund’s month-end assets under management increased to Rs 4,702 crore in September 2021, from Rs 135 crore in October 2018.

The fund’s investment objective is to provide capital appreciation by predominantly investing in companies having a large market capitalisation.

Trailing returns

The fund has outperformed the benchmark (S&P BSE 100 TRI) and its peers (funds ranked under the large-cap funds category in September 2021 CMFR) in the past two-, three-, five-, seven-, and 10-year trailing periods.

An investment of Rs 10,000 in the fund on August 20, 2010, (inception of the fund) would have grown to Rs 42,790 on November 1, 2021, at an annualised rate of 13.85 per cent, compared with the growth of the category and the benchmark to Rs 35,674 (12.02 per cent per annum) and Rs 37,154 (12.42 per cent per annum), respectively.

A systematic investment plan (SIP) is a disciplined mode of investing offered by mutual funds, through which one can invest a certain amount at regular intervals. A monthly SIP of Rs 10,000 for the past 10 years in the fund, totalling Rs 12 lakh, would have grown to Rs 29.08 lakh (17.11 per cent annualised returns), compared with Rs 27.9 lakh (16.32 per cent) in the benchmark as on November 1, 2021.

Portfolio analysis

In line with its investment objective, the fund has maintained predominant exposure to large-cap stocks (averaging 86.05 per cent) in the past three years. The allocation to mid-cap and small-cap stocks averaged 8.99 per cent and 0.12 per cent, respectively, during the same period.

The portfolio was diversified across 24 sectors in the past three years. Banks had the highest average allocation of 24.7 per cent, followed by software (11.94 per cent), consumer non-durables (10.84 per cent), finance (9.44 per cent), and petroleum products (6.21 per cent).

The fund took exposure to 91 stocks and held 15 stocks consistently in the past three years. ICICI Bank, Infosys, HDFC Bank, Reliance Industries, and Divi’s Laboratories were the key contributors to the fund’s performance and were consistently held during the period of analysis.