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Sundaram Taxsaver '97

Dhirendra Kumar

Sundaram Taxsaver '97 was launched as a ten-year close-ended scheme. The fund will invest upto 20 per cent of its corpus in debt. It is currently open for repurchase at nil load to net asset value (NAV). The fund has given an annualised return of 35.17 per cent against 16.5 per cent by the Sensex.

As on October 1999, the growth sectors together account for 56 per cent of the net assets with software crossing the 25 per cent mark at 31 per cent. The balance 44 per cent was accounted for by the cyclicals with leading sectors of auto (9 per cent), aluminium (8.5 per cent), diversified companies (6 per cent), engineering (6 per cent) and cements (4 per cent).

The top 15 stocks of the fund account for 58 per cent of the net assets. In the recent post-budget downturn, the fund lost only 1.55 per cent against 16 per cent by the Sensex. Sundaram Taxsaver '97, a diversified fund, spread across quality stocks, is ideally suited for investors seeking steady returns from equities.

It has always had an excessively diversified portfolio spread across 15-20 sectors and over 50 scrips. The fund limited its exposure in a particular sector to 25 per cent and in each stock to 6 per cent. The strategy of a diversified portfolio has helped the fund cushion the fall in the NAV during the downturn in the markets.

Till September 1998, the fund had a predominantly cyclical sector portfolio. The gradual tilt in favour of the growth stocks and the rising markets of 1999 buoyed the fund's NAV past its par value. Sundaram Taxsaver '97 gained 112 per cent in calendar 1999 against 64 per cent by the Sensex. However, the fund has lagged behind the broad market indices and its aggressive peers.

Fund Basics
Objective	Size (Rs cr)	NAV (Rs) 10/4/2000	Repurchase Price	Sale Price	Total Returns
Tax planning	26.68	23.41	23.41	—	35.71%
Benchmark Comparisons (%)					29/2/2000
	1M	3M	6M	1Yr	3Yr
Fund	2.06	32.51	48.96	111.82	—
Sensex	2.08	17.41	11.83	60.22	14.26
Nat. Index	11.52	46.89	50.80	118.54	27.62
Obj.Avg.	12.26	44.09	62.46	129.77	28.55
Top holdings (15/10/1999)					Net assets (%)
Grasim					5.18
NIIT					4.72
Ramco					3.80
SSI					3.69
Dabur					3.59
Mastek					3.50
Nalco					3.30
Hindustan Lever					3.06
Wockhardt					3.05
Bharat Forge					2.70
Hindalco					2.57
Madras Cements					2.56
HDFC					2.26
Infosys					2.16
Telco					2.14
ITC					2.10
Rhone Poulenc					2.01
MRF					1.92
Sun Pharma					1.92
Satyam Computer					1.77

Source: Value Research

Mutual Funds

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