Mutuals post stellar show in FY04

At the end of the financial year 2003-04, 51 equity mutual funds posted returns of over 100 per cent each, outperforming the 83.4 per cent gain registered by the Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex in the period.

In the total universe of 131 equity-oriented funds, 59 funds ended the year with gains of over 50 per cent, and remaining 20 posted gains below 50 per cent. But what is noteworthy here is not a single fund ended the year with losses.

The chart toppers include Tata Equity Opportunity Fund, HSBC Equity Fund, Reliance Growth fund, Sun F&C Resurgent India Equity Fund and Franklin India Prima Fund-growth option. Tata Equity Opportunity Fund posted 179.3 per cent gain in its net asset value (NAV), from Rs 7.54 on March 31, 2003, to Rs 21.06 on March 31, 2004.

HSBC Equity Fund came next, gaining 171.7 per cent and Reliance Growth Fund (diversified) at number three with 166.7 per cent gains. Sun F&C Resurgent India Equity Fund clocked gains of 162.2 per cent and Franklin India Prima Fund - G registered 160.4 per cent gains while UTI Masterplus Unit Scheme 91 posted 104 per cent gains.

Among the funds with gains between 50 and 100 per cent, are Alliance Buy India Fund which posted 99.5 per cent gains and Alliance Frontline Equity Fund (99.1 per cent). First India Growth Fund (97.6 per cent) and Principal Growth Fund (94.7 per cent) followed them. UTI Grandmaster - 1993 posted 92.3 per cent gains.

Tata Equity Opportunity Fund rode high on its holdings in Maruti Udyog (5.72 per cent of the corpus) and Bharti Tele-Ventures (5.12 per cent).

The top holdings of HSBC Equity Fund - G comprised SBI scrip (5.63 per cent of the corpus), Grasim Industries (5.46 per cent), HCL Infosystems (5.43 per cent), Larsen & Toubro (4.87 per cent) and ACC (4.79 per cent).

Reliance Growth's top holdings comprise Grasim Industries (4.49 per cent), BHEL (3.66 per cent), Jaiprakash Industries (3.62 per cent), Hero Honda Motors (3.51 per cent) and Crompton Greaves (2.98 per cent).

But it was Sun F&C Resurgent India Equity Fund that rode high on just one of its holdings - Tata Motors, which makes up 20.63 per cent of its portfolio. Other top holdings were Sesa Goa (11.86 per cent), Maruti Udyog (10.73 per cent), Tata Power (7.84 per cent) and BPCL (5.73 per cent).

Franklin India Prima Fund-G coasted along on gains in LIC Housing Finance (6.92 per cent), Ashok Leyland (5.98 per cent), Indian Rayon (5.86 per cent), Motor Industries Co (5.80 per cent) and UTI Bank (5.26 per cent).