After posting a decent show in the first five years, this fund had an awful period in CY06 and CY07. However, like a consistent player, this fund has also managed to stage a good comeback. In CY06 & CY07, it underperformed the category by 51 and 1567 bps (basis points) respectively. Though, in CY08 & CY09, it managed a smart comeback, beating the category average return by 257 and 1636 bps respectively.

Also, this fund has managed to beat most of the diversified funds in the three- year period. In fact, this fund stands at second place in the balanced fund category and is amongst the top funds in the equity funds in terms of its risk-adjusted returns (with Sharpe ratio of 0.58).

In July 2008, over 31 In one- and three-year period, it has managed to beat the category by massive 1751 and 917 bps. Such a performance over this period is on account of the astute portfolio calls in making right moves across the asset classes, stocks and sectors.

In July 2008, over 31 per cent of the assets were invested in the debt instru-ments while the remaining assets were invested in the stocks. In fact, the top ten holdings of the portfolio included four debt instruments, one of which topped the list with the allocation of over 9.28 per cent. It held 29 stocks and 9 debt instru-ments. This 29-stock portfolio is well diversified across various sectors with top three sectors contributing little less than 30 per cent of the total equity portfolio.

At the same time, the fund holds almost 50-50 exposure in the large-cap and mid-cap space. Such a balanced portfolio allocation across asset classes as well as stocks will help the fund sail through both bull and bear periods. Chirag Setalvad is managing this fund since April 2007. At HDFC AMC, Chirag also manages other five equity and one debt fund and all of these six funds have managed to beat their category returns in both short and long periods with quite ease.

With the higher debt allocation as compared to the other equity funds, this fund will help investors restrict the downside and the judicious equity calls on sectors and stocks will help investors in capitalizing the upside. Such a consistent performance and wise portfolio management make this fund a good bet for long-term investor who can ride on this fund to navigate out the current volatile market situation. Thus, investors with low to moderate risk appetite can take exposure to this fund through SIP.