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Zurich India Top 200

Dhirendra Kumar

Zurich India Top 200 is an open-ended fund and seeks long-term capital appreciation from a portfolio of equity investments in the largest quoted Indian companies. Upto 95 per cent of the fund is deployed in equities drawn from the companies in the BSE-200 Index. While redemption is at net asset value (NAV), there is a 1.5 per cent entry load irrespective of the amount invested. The fund paid a total dividend of 50 per cent in 1999-2000. The minimum investment in the fund is Rs 2000.

Since its launch in September 1996, the fund has given an annualised return of 21.23 per cent against 6.63 per cent by BSE 200 and 5.7 per cent by the Sensex. The fund has given these returns with a diversified portfolio spread evenly across sectors. The fund has outperformed its benchmark index over most time periods.

However, the fund became overweight on the ICE sector since February 2000 with software and media together accounting for 44 per cent as on March 31, 2000. As on April 30, 2000, the fund reduced its exposure to technology (from 37% in March to 24%) and pharma (from 16% to 10.5%) stocks while marginally increasing its finance (7%) and auto (4%) exposure.

The fund also held 8 per cent in consumer non-durables, 4 per cent each in engineering and metals and had a cash component of 36 per cent. It has exited from Zee Telefilms. The fund was witness to heavy redemption pressure in April which reduced its size roughly by 50 per cent to Rs 370 million. In the recent ICE sector downturn, the fund lost 39.5 per cent against a 40.4 per cent fall in the BSE 200.

Though the fund has a quality portfolio that can yield steady returns in the long run, any reversal to a higher allocation to infotech sector would make the fund volatile. The pre-defined universe of equity investment stated by its charter, tilts the portfolio towards large-cap stocks making it unlikely for the fund to get into illiquid stocks. Since the fund follows a buy-and-hold approach, the scheme may be good for investors seeking above average returns with greater stability.

Fund Basics
Objective	Size (Rs cr)	NAV (1/6/2000)	Exit Price	Entry Price	Total Returns (%)
Growth	37.1	15.70	15.70	15.94	21.23%
Benchmark Comparisons (%)					26/5/2000
	1M	3M	6M	1Yr	3Yr
Fund	-10.7	-38.6	-17.8	2.9	18.5
Sensex	-14.8	-27.4	-13.2	2.8	3.3
Nat. Index	-21.6	-41.9	-11.4	15.4	7.5
Obj. Avg.	-14.4	-38.5	-12.7	25.7	16.2
Top Holdings (30/4/2000)					Net assets (%)
Infosys Technologies					13.10
Hindustan Lever					5.60
Satyam Computer					5.10
PSI Data					4.00
Cummins					4.00
Nalco					3.80
Hero Honda					3.70
Dr. Reddy's					3.40
ICICI Banking					2.90
McDowell					2.70
Novartis					2.20
Rhone Poulenc					2.10
Global Trust Bank					1.90
HDFC					1.90
Madras Cements					1.90

Source: Value Research

Fund File

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