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ICICI Power

Dhirendra Kumar

ICICI Power seeks long-term capital appreciation and does not have any emphasis on dividends. Under normal conditions, upto 60 per cent of the net assets is to be invested in equities and upto 40 per cent in fixed income instruments. Being a sector fund, its portfolio focus is on companies in the core sector and the associated feeder industries. Apart from being listed at major stock exchanges, the fund is currently open for repurchase at net asset value (NAV).

Since its launch, the fund has given an annualised return of 6.70 per cent against a loss of 2.5 per cent by the Sensex. The restructuring of the fund subsequent to the Prudential-ICICI alliance, saw the fund consistently outperform the Sensex. The turnaround in the performance got more pronounced with the rising markets of 1999. However, during the second quarter of 1999, when markets witnessed a rally in cyclicals, the fund lost though marginally by 0.63 per cent, thereby indicating a tilt in favour of software. The fund returned a whopping 151 per cent during the calendar 1999 going up to an NAV of Rs 18.74.

The fund gained another 46 per cent till March 8, 2000 after which the downturn in the markets triggered by the ICE stocks, caught on with the fund to knock 50 per cent off the fund till date. As on March 31, 2000, the fund is overweight on the ICE sectors accounting for 64 per cent with software at 40.7 per cent, media at 12.7 per cent and telecom at 11 per cent. Automobile sector accounts for 8.6 per cent, power is 5 per cent and banking is 4 per cent. The fund has exited the petroleum sector and public sector stocks. In the one year ending April 2000, the fund has returned 101 per cent.
ICICI Power is a sector fund but the range of industries it can invest into makes it a well diversified fund rather than a focused sector fund. The fund can invest in equity or debt of energy, communication, transportation, construction, tourism, financial service and software companies. However, the fund is no more an evenly diversified fund. Though the fund is attractive for its small size and quality portfolio, the aggressiveness towards the ICE sector will make the fund volatile.

Fund Basics
Objective	Size (Rs cr)	NAV	Rep. Pr.	Rsl. Pr.	Total Returns (%)
Growth	80.62	13.62	13.62	-	6.70%
Benchmark Comparisons (%)					30/4/2000
	1M	3M	6M	1Yr	3Yr
Fund	-25.4	-20.8	25.3	101.3	29.7
Sensex	-9.7	-12.7	1.4	42.3	6.8
Nat. Index	-21.3	-18.9	11.0	68.5	13.5
Obj. Avg.	-12.8	-14.1	7.1	55.9	10.6
Top Holdings (31/03/2000)					Net Asset (%)
Zee Telefilms					12.61
D S Q Software					6.76
Global Tele-Systems					6.70
Bharat Forge					6.18
Satyam Computer					5.14
Mastek					5.12
SSI					4.71
H C L Technologies					4.45
Aftek Infosys					4.30
Infosys Technologies					4.24
B S E S					3.82
ICICI					3.58
Sterlite Industries					3.39
Atco Industries					3.36
I T W Signode					2.33
Pentafour Software & Exports					2.31
National Aluminium					2.26
Munjal Showa					1.66
Atlas Copco					1.65
Gujarat Industries Power Co.					1.10

Source: Value Research

Mutual Funds

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