Mirae Asset India Opportunities Fund - Buy Online

A fairly young fund in a category of stalwarts, this fund has nevertheless built up an impressive record in the five years since launch. It has been a 5 star fund in 32 out of 41 months it has been rated. The fund has a mid and smallcap tilt that has delivered a return boost.

Strategy: Launched in an unfavourable market, the fund has not let this keep it down. This fund remains fully invested across market cycles. Its distinguishing feature is a higher midcap and smallcap allocation compared to the category. The last is far higher than peers. The fund's relatively small In the last one year, while large-caps have made up 64-70 per cent of assets, midcaps have accounted for 25-27 per cent and small-caps 8-13 per cent.size (R695 crore as of September) allows it to make the most of small and mid-cap opportunities. Some of these would be closed to giant sized multicap funds due to impact costs.

Having said this the fund's approach is buy and hold and many stocks feature in the holdings since inception.

Performance: 5 year returns of 17.1 per cent and 3 year returns of 23.5 per cent position it among the best in the category. The returns are ahead of category by 5 per cent over each period. Cumulatively the fund has beaten the benchmark by 50 per cent since 2013. Starting out in 2009, the fund has faced just one negative market year so far, but has fared reasonably well in it. In 2011, the fund's NAV lost 19.6 per cent to the benchmark's 27 per cent fall.

What we don't like: While there's nothing to worry about in the returns so far, the fund lacks the long track record of other funds in its category across multiple market cycles.

Why Invest? If you want a small and nimble fund that can truly play mid and small cap opportunities in bull markets, this fund fits the bill well. However, the limited record argues for starting out with small exposures and ramping them up after watching performance.