One of the oldest balanced funds in the market, it has an enviable record of beating the benchmark in every one of the last 14 years, except 2008. It has retained a three- to four-star rating throughout its 12-year life.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced 95 Fund maintains a 70-30 allocation in favour of equities, with a 5 per cent leeway to move either way, based on market conditions. Rebalancing is done on a monthly basis. Within the equity portfolio, the positioning is conservative, with a two-thirds allocation to large-cap stocks. The debt portion uses both duration and accrual strategies to deliver alpha.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced 95 Fund follows 'growth at a reasonable price' strategy and looks for secular growth stories for its equity portfolio. In the last one year, the fund has consciously shifted its equity weights in favour of large caps, with a 70 per cent allocation to this segment as of May 2017. The debt portfolio mainly features sovereign and AAA instruments, with a sub-5 per cent weight in instruments rated below AA.

Save for 2008, the fund has been quite good at handling both bull and bear phases in the market. The fund's exceptional returns in 2009 and 2014 show that it has been particularly adept at playing the big bull years. Consistent performance has lifted the assets under management from under Rs 1,000 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 8,754 crore in May 2017.

 But given the widely diversified portfolio, size isn't a constraint. Overall, a reliable fund that has proved itself across two market cycles.