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Birla Sunlife '95
It has its bursts of brilliance and bouts of underperformance, but eventually rewards those who hang in for the long-term. Its 5-year annualised return of 20 per cent (category average is 16 per cent) as on November 23, 2010, bears testimony to that.

The aggressive equity allocation with a focus on growth stocks gives it a risky slant, but the fund manager plays it safe is by ensuring that the portfolio is well diversified.

On the debt side, the actively managed debt portfolio tilts towards government securities (G-Secs) and bonds. It mostly maintains a high quality portfolio but does stretch the maturity.

Canara Robeco Balance
Despite a complicated history, its recent moves have been heartening. Due to frequent changes in fund managers and management, it’s tough to nail down this fund’s style. Safe to say, since July 2008, when the current fund managers under the new management of Canara Robeco took over, the fund has been transformed into a stable and conservative offering. The equity allocation, along with the large cap exposure began to dip instantly. No more bold exposures. So investors, who want an equity exposure, but are not aggressive one, will be happy here.

Fund manager Anand Shah attempts to generate alpha on the way up and protect investors on the way down.On the fixed income side, the fund manager takes no risk at all. Over the 5-year period ended November 23, 2010, the fund has delivered an annualised return of 20 per cent (category average is 16 per cent).

DSP BlackRock Balanced
Though not a stellar outperformer, neither does it tumble like a pack of cards. When Apoorva Shah took over the fund in 2006, there was no dramatic change in the portfolio except that the mid-cap allocation began to get more generous. But that does not imply an aggressive portfolio. In fact, Shah shies away from taking aggressive bets and prefers dabbling in a large number of sectors.

He also does a large amount of churning. The fund largely remains within the 65-75 per cent equity band.

Though the fund dabbles in various debt instruments, it maintains a conservative stance. The fund is a good bet for the conservative investor.

HDFC Prudence
Despite its aggression, it’s a star performer. This fund had beaten the category average every single year since inception till 2006. It turned out to be very average in 2007 and 2008, only to bounce back in 2009 with 85 per cent returns (category average is 57 per cent).

Furthermore, the fund’s annualised return of around 27 per cent over the past 10 years is nothing short of impressive. None of its peers have been able to match such a performance.

The fund manager Prashant Jain invests in good quality businesses, remains diversified and steers clear from richly valued investments. Though the fund follows an all-cap strategy, the portfolio is tilted towards mid- and small-caps. However, the diversified portfolio of over 70 stocks tones down the aggression. On the debt side, the fund largely invests in debentures of the financial sector with small exposure to G-Secs and Structured Obligations (SO).

Reliance Regular Savings Balanced
After a shaky start, this fund has emerged as a strong contender.

A prime reason could be the fund managers’ flexibility in working around the equity allocation which has moved between 54 and 70 per cent. The fund managers frequently churn the portfolio and show no hesitation in moving in and out of stocks.

On the debt side, the fund has largely stuck to cash and call money. It has only been recently that an exposure to debt paper has taken place with the bulk in Certificate of Deposits (CDs).