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THE Franklin India Bluechip fund is a good investment option among the diversified equity mutual funds. The fund has generated a compounded annual return of about 20 per cent since launch and has consistently outpaced the S&P CNX Nifty in every one of the past six years.

Bluechip is aggressively managed with active churning of the stocks in the portfolio. In April 2003, it once again appears to have attracted sizeable inflows, with the asset base swelling from Rs 451 crore to Rs 510 crore, despite a marginal change in the NAV.

The fund has used the inflows to add to its existing positions in bank and IT stocks, apart from making some additions to its portfolio. It made the following changes to its portfolio between March 31 and April 30:

Stocks added: Gujarat Ambuja Cement, Hindustan Lever were the two additions.

Holdings enhanced: The fund added to its existing holdings of bank stocks such as SBI, ICICI Bank, Oriental Bank and PNB. The fund has also acquired additional shares of Hindalco, GAIL, Grasim, MTNL, HCL Technologies, Infosys, ONGC and ITC.

Stocks sold: The fund completely exited its holdings in Corporation Bank and Bajaj Auto.

Holdings pared: The fund reduced exposures to Indo Gulf, BHEL, Bharti Televentures, BPCL, TISCO and HPCL.

Cash: Probably due to the fresh inflows, the fund's cash position rose from 7.85 per cent in March to 11.3 per cent in April 2003.

Sectoral changes: Banking remained the fund's top exposure by end April, making up 17.9 per cent of assets. Oil and gas was the second largest sector in the portfolio, followed by tobacco and IT.

Fund facts: Franklin India Bluechip Fund, formerly managed by Pioneer ITI Mutual Fund was transferred to the Franklin Templeton group in 2002.

The fund charges an entry load of 2 per cent and had an expense ratio of 2.27 per cent. It is managed by Mr K. N. Sivasubramaniam.

Aarati Krishnan

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