The fund does away with the pretence of being an inclusive fund: it is strictly meant for those who can stomach high risks; and later pays off such perseverance.

Strategy

The fund has no market cap or sector bias and follows both top-down and bottom-up approach. In the bull run, it aims to take concentrated sector bets and aggressive sector allocation. While diversification, defensive stocks and cash as hedge tool help it in bear phase. An example of this is year 2008 when its cash exposure touched 28 per cent. Its equity allocation has remained above 90 per cent for the past 2 years.

Performance

There's no stopping the fund when markets are rising. In first 2 years of its existence it beat the category by more than 20 per cent.

But the first reality check came in 2008 when it just about managed to come on par with its peers. But it was back to its usual best in 2009 when it again beat the category by 20 per cent.

The next 2 years -- 2010 and 2011 -- shook the faith of investors as it was hit hard by the downturn of 2011. As is its wont, it again sprang back to its feat in 2012, though year-to-date returns don't look that rosy.

When it comes to investments, Divi's Laboratories is the only stock it has held consistently, with decent returns. When we look at the half-yearly portfolio of the fund, the number of stocks has not fluctuated much. It has stayed invested in 26 stocks since 2011. Of these only half have turned out to be profit-making. Not just that, the remaining have washed away half of the total gains made by the profit-making stocks.

Its recent large cap stock picks in 2013 like TCS and Oil India have turned out favourable till now while it has lost money in mid and small caps like LIC Housing Fin and Tube Investments. The fund manager's conviction in large and mid cap space works better while it fares poorly when it comes to the small cap holdings.

But it still holds small caps like Gammon India, Pratibha Industries, and KEC International which have pulled down the returns of the fund.

Why invest?

Not for the faint-hearted. Zooms past way ahead when everything falls in place but sputters when it doesn't.

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