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Nilanjan Dey

Kolkata , May 5

EQUITY funds that promise to take an exposure to globally-competitive Indian corporates are all speeding ahead, with sector leader SBI Magnum Global delivering more than 80 per cent in the past one year.

Investors, prompted by the growth recorded by this group of funds, have increasingly started to closely monitor their performance - a trend that is reflected in the queries being received at distributors' offices.

Returns provided by the funds - SBI Magnum Global, Kotak Global India and Canexpo - have all outstripped the one-year sector average of 27.23 per cent, sources in MF circles point out, adding that the fund managers in question have been investing in an assortment of companies from across a number of sectors.

In this context, MF watchers cite examples such as Crompton Greaves, Bharat Forge, Tata Tea and Gujarat Ambuja Cement, all of which have been in the news for their exposure to international markets, either by way of exports or through overseas acquisitions.

SBI Magnum Global, in fact, is the No. 1 performer in the entire category (that is, among all diversified funds). As figures supplied by Value Research suggest, its one-year score stood at 82.08 per cent on May 3, 2005, way ahead of the next best performer, Taurus Discovery Stock, which has provided about 68 per cent during this period.

In comparison, gains recorded by the other players, Canexpo and Kotak Global, are in the region of 34.78 per cent and 33.4 per cent, respectively.

The former (which was originally introduced as a five-year close-ended fund in early 1994) basically invests in companies that have substantial foreign exchange earnings, while the latter places its bets on domestic companies with an international edge.

Sources also suggest that the idea of investing in such outfits is set to find more takers in the days ahead, beginning with Chola MF, which has already mooted an equity product focused on what have been billed as "global winners".

According to Mr Tridib Pathak, CIO of Chola MF, the proposed Global Advantage Fund will pick up cases that expect to generate a minimum 20 per cent of their turnover from exports in the next few years.

"We have listed more than 120 companies that fit this description. The fact that their domestic businesses are actually pulsating will eventually contribute more to their global competitiveness," he told Business Line.

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