Sundaram Growth: Hold

Recommendation:Hold

S. Vaidya Nathan

SUNDARAM Growth Fund is conservatively managed in terms of exposures to individual stocks and sectors. The fund has consistently held individual stock exposures to less than 5 per cent of net assets. Given the overall track record, investors can stay with the fund. Fresh exposures can be deferred for the moment till the overall economic indicators become clear. The fund makes frequent changes to its portfolio. In the July-September period, the following were the notable changes:

New stocks: The fund took exposures in Ranbaxy Laboratories, Digital GlobalSoft, Bajaj Auto, Pfizer and State Bank of India. This has enhanced the fund's diversified nature.

Sold out: Stocks such as Zee Telefilms, Hindustan Petroleum, Siemens and Punjab Tractors have been completely sold out.

Enhanced exposures: The fund has added to its exposures in stocks such as ITC, Grasim Industries, Hindustan Lever, SmithKline Beecham Consumer, VSNL, Bank of Baroda, ACC, Indo Gulf, Dabur, MTNL, Hindalco, Blue Dart and Reliance.

Pared exposures: The fund has cut partially its exposures to stocks such as Larsen and Toubro, Titan Industries, HDFC, TVS Suzuki and Cipla.

Fund flows: The fund appears to have received some fresh flows in the last two months. The NAV is down by around 13 per cent while the asset base is down by just 9 per cent. The fund appears to have also stepped up exposures to equity with cash/cash equivalents down to 11.6 per cent of net assets as compared to around 17 per cent in end July.

Sectoral exposures: The fund sharply stepped up exposures to the healthcare, consumer, auto and finance sector stocks, while it cut exposures to the cement and diversified sectors.

Top ten holdings: The top ten exposures of Sundaram Growth Fund are Reliance Industries, Hindustan Lever, ITC, Aventis Pharma, Grasim, ACC, HPCL, HDFC, Nestle India and Bajaj Auto.

Fund facts: The fund was launched in April 1997. It offers entry at a load of 2 per cent. The minimum investment amount is Rs 2000. The fund's exit load is nil. The fund manager is Mr Anand Radhakrishnan. The fund offers a normal plan only and dividend are paid out. The NAV of the fund is Rs 9.98 per unit.