Sundaram Growth: Hold

Recommendation: Hold

S. Vaidya Nathan

WHILE investors in the Sundaram Growth Fund can stay with the scheme, fresh exposures can be avoided at this point in time, as the fund is making some significant changes to the portfolio.

The Fund did well in 2000, helped by a diversified portfolio. It has a conservative approach as far as individual stock exposures go. But it manages its portfolio actively, altering the exposures frequently, as witnessed by the several changes made in December.

New exposures: The fund has taken exposures in Grasim Industries, Cummins India, ICICI Bank and Knoll Pharmaceuticals.

Exposures cut: The fund has cut exposures in Aksh Optifibre, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL),Siemens, Whirlpool of India, MTNL and Nestle.

Exposures pared: The fund has cut exposures in HDFC, Blue Dart Express, Shree Cements, Moser Baer and SSI.

Exposures enhanced: The fund has raised exposures to HCL Technologies, ITC, Infosys, Cipla, Hindustan Lever, Raymond, ICICI, Hindustan Petroleum (HPCL), Zee Telefilms, HDFC Bank, TVS Suzuki, Sterlite Optical TNPL and Digital Equipment. The fund has bought into HCL Technologies, Hindustan Lever and Tamil Nadu Newsprint and Papers Ltd.

Top holdings: The fund has taken the top ten holdings -- NIIT (4.8 per cent), HCL Technologies, ITC, Infosys, Reliance Industries, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Larsen & Toubro, Cipla, Dabur India and Hindustan Lever. The fund has net assets of Rs 23.77 crore with 81 per cent invested in net assets and 19 per cent in cash/cash equivalents.

Sectoral holdings: The fund has a 17.7 per cent exposure in the information technology sector, around 9.4 per cent in healthcare, 9.3 per cent in consumer goods, 7.6 per cent in finance and around 4.8 per cent each in the automobile and cement sector.

Fund facts: The Sundaram Growth Fund is an open-end mutual fund scheme launched in April 1997. The minimum investment is Rs 2,000 and the fund offers at entry load of 2 per cent. There is no exit load. The fund manager is Mr Anand Radhakrishnan. The fund had declared a dividend of 20 per cent in September 1999 and 30 per cent in May 2000.