Templeton India Growth Fund Outperforms Sensex

The Templeton India Growth Fund (TIGF) has emerged as the sole equity-based mutual fund growth scheme to outperform the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex, which has lost 31.42 per cent from its previous high of 5933.56 points. Against this, TIGF has seen a 29.78 per cent erosion in net asset value (NAV) from its high of Rs 17.56 to Rs 12.33, as on May 19.

In the past 3-4 months, most of the top-performing equity schemes have seen drastic erosion in their NAV, those having a huge exposure in information technology stocks being the worst hit.

A senior official of Templeton India Asset Management (India) Private Ltd said, "The fund has been able to outperform the market primarily on account of its conservative investment strategy. The mix has been balanced equally, almost at 50-50 between convergence and brick-and-mortar stocks. This has borne us through the Sensex downslide in recent months."

 

Franklin India Growth Fund (FIGF), also from the Templeton India stable, has outperformed the market, though marginally, losing 30.64 per cent on its NAV from a high of Rs 10.41 to Rs 7.22 per cent, as on May 19.

Other growth-oriented equity schemes which have seen substantial erosion in their NAV in the last quarter include the Alliance Equity Fund, Birla Advantage, DSP Equity Fund, SUN F&C Value, Kothari Pioneer Prima Plus, Alliance New Millennium, Birla IT and Kothari Infotech.

According to analysts, most the of the equity-based funds, both growth and dividend, have been hit by the knock taken by information technology counters, where these funds are heavily invested.

While diversified equity funds have taken a knock in general, the new sector funds, which include Alliance New Millennium, Birla IT and Kothari Infotech, have seen the highest erosion in NAV at over 50 per cent, analysts point out.

"TIGF would typically fall under the category of a broadbased scheme," they added.

Alliance Equity Fund's NAV dropped from a high of Rs 68.61 to Rs 34.79, as on May 18, an erosion of 49.29 per cent, while that of Birla Advantage eroded by 51.37 per cent to Rs 40.54 from a high of Rs 83.37.

On the other hand, Alliance New Millennium Fund's NAV has dropped by 57 per cent since its previous high of Rs 18.45. The NAV as on May 19 was Rs 7.92.

That of Birla IT dropped by 47.26 per cent from its high of Rs 40.01 to Rs 21.1, while that of Kothari Infotech Fund eroded by 48.60 per cent to Rs 28.86 from its previous high of Rs 56.15.