The Hindu Business Line : SBI Bluechip: Hold

The objective of SBI Bluechip Fund is to invest in a diversified basket of stocks whose market capitalisation is at least equal to or more than the benchmark BSE 100. Its performance since inception has been lacklustre and only as good as the several funds launched during the last quarter of the previous year or the early part of this year.

It is, however, too short a period to judge the performance of SBI Bluechip. Investors can thus consider retaining their investment in the fund considering that the market has gone through a significant correction and has also been volatile the past few months. Though the fund trailed its benchmark for much of the time since its launch, its portfolio inspires confidence. Its holding is mainly of large-cap stocks, many of them being Sensex heavyweights. Investors planning for fresh investments can look for established diversified funds having a good track record. Further, fresh investments can also be routed through systematic investment plans to avoid bad entry timing.

Performance: SBI Bluechip delivered a negative return of seven per cent since launch . During the same period, the benchmark BSE 100 was slightly better, returning a negative 3.5 per cent. Other funds launched during the same period, such as Fidelity Tax Advantage and DBS Chola Contra, delivered a negative return of 5.2 per cent and 7.5 per cent respectively. But established funds such as HDFC Top 200 and Franklin India Bluechip performed better than SBI Bluechip over this period.

Portfolio overview: SBI Bluechip has 53 stocks in its portfolio. And the top three sectors accounted for 43 per cent of the assets as of June. Technology, automobile and energy occupied the top three slots. The top ten holding accounted for 35 per cent of the portfolio.

The fund has close to 85 per cent of its portfolio invested in large-cap stocks. Since inception, its exposure to stocks with market capitalisation of less than Rs 5,000 crore has been in the 15-16 per cent range. Reliance Industries, Satyam Computers and Infosys Technologies were part of the large-cap stocks. IVRCL Infrastructure, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Pfizer were the stocks from the mid - cap space in SBI Bluechip's portfolio.

Fund facts: The fund, launched in January 2006, is managed by Mr Sanjay Sinha. Assets under management totalled Rs 2,582 crore. The NAV per unit is Rs.9.6.

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