The scheme seeks to build a balanced portfolio, which would provide a combination of high annual return and capital appreciation. The scheme was made open-ended from March 2000.

If steady returns are the key attribute, then this fund meets this requisite. The fund has retained a four-star rating over most of the last ten years. Trailing returns show a consistent ability to beat the category and benchmark over one, three and five years.

Strategy: The fund doesn't vary its asset allocation much and has generally kept to a 75:25 allocation between equities and debt. The equity portfolio is biased towards large-cap companies, usually featuring a few value picks from the mid-cap segment. But the fund currently has a higher mid- and small-cap exposure because it believes India has entered into a secular bull run. The fund's mid-cap exposure stood at 31 per cent as of February 2015. One unique facet of this fund is that the debt portion is very actively managed too. Duration calls are actively taken to generate alpha. The modified duration of the portfolio has increased from 2.59 years last year to 4.51 years (as of February 2015), with an average maturity of 7.65 years. The portfolio is rebalanced as per economic conditions and investment opportunities.

Performance: The fund's one-year return of 51.1 per cent is 24 per cent ahead of the benchmark and nearly 8 per cent above the category. The three-year and five-year returns are over 2 per cent ahead of the category at 22.3 per cent and 16.2 per cent, respectively. The fund has been quite relentless in outpacing the category as well as its benchmark. The margin of outperformance, however, has not been large, except for the last one year. The portfolio suggests that the allocations between large-, mid- and small-cap stocks have been actively altered with market conditions.

What we don't like: Higher small-cap exposures and the high duration of the debt portfolio can lead to higher volatility if the calls don't play out.

Why invest? The fund is an ideal fit for investors looking for a benchmark-beating fund across market cycles.