After a patchy performance in the first three years after launch, this fund has turned out to be a consistent outperformer in the last five years. It has managed a steady climb in the ratings from three stars in 2012 to five stars. This fund follows the business-management-valuation framework to select stocks. Business fundamentals are analysed based on the parameters like uniqueness of business model, moat and management's execution capability. Growth at a reasonable price (GARP) is the philosophy that is followed while assessing valuations. This is a large-cap-tilted fund within the ELSS category. Sixty per cent of the assets have been regularly parked in large-cap stocks, with mid caps taking up 30 per cent and small caps the rest. Cash calls aren't common and cash is usually kept less than 10 per cent of the portfolio.

The fund has outpaced its benchmark by more or less uniform margins over three, five and seven years. Annual returns also reveal that the fund tends to outdo the indices by moderate margins each year. Year 2014 alone was an exception with the outperformance widening to 17 percentage points. The market fancy for quality stocks and companies with earnings visibility played out in the fund's favour during this phase. Whether such a large margin of excess returns can be sustained in a cyclical bounce back needs to be seen.

It's a growth-oriented fund meant for conservative investors.