Dollar returns for the six month period ended on September 1,1998 have improved to 9.56 per cent compared to -2.96 per cent for the last one year, according to Micropal. The India sector returns, according to Micropal, averaged -5.66 per cent in the last six months and -21.57 per cent for the last one year.

India Advantage Fund, which was launched in August 1996, had an asset size of $12.28 million on September 1,1998 against $13.3 million on June 30, 1998. Compared to its equity portfolio on March 31,1998 the number of major holdings have come down to about 25 from over 30 scrips.

Among major additions to the portfolio in the last six months are Cadbury India, Hoechst Schering AgrEvo, Satyam Computers, Smithkline Beecham Consumer, Novartis India, Burroughs Wellcome, DSQ Software and CyanamidAgro. In fact, the sectoral compositions show that software, fast moving consumer goods and pharmaceuticals account for nearly 75 per cent of its assets. Besides, the fund has stepped up weightages in the cases of NIIT, Hoechst Marion Roussel, Procter & Gamble and Wyeth Lederle. However, it has booked gains in Wipro, Punjab Tractors, Infosys Technologies, Pfizer (India), Pond's (India), Tata Infotech, Crisil, Essel Packaging, Nestle India, Hindustan Lever, Castrol India, Smithkline Beecham Pharmaceuticals and Birla 3M.

During the quarter ended June 30,1998, the fund's quarterly update reveals that its net asset value in dollars fell by 0.78 per cent while the BSE Sensex declined by 18 per cent from 3893 to 3251. Interestingly, during the period the IFC India Index fell by 27.8 per cent. The fund's corpus had grown by 39.1 per cent since its inception on August 20, 1996.

To illustrate the point that a selective "buy and hold" strategy will yield "above average" returns over the long term, the fund updateshows that some scrips like Hindustan Lever, Novartis (India), Castrol (India) and Pond's (India) have recorded annualised appreciation in price of 42 per cent, 34 per cent, 40 per cent and 36 per cent respectively during the ten-year period from July 1, 1988 and June 30,1998.

Birla MF offers systematic transfer plan

Birla Mutual Fund, which now manages assets worth over Rs 800 crore including Rs 175 crore in equity funds, is launching a "Systematic Transfer Plan" to give its fixed income investors the option to switch the gains on the Birla Income Plus scheme to the Birla Advantage Fund (BAF).

Under the plan, the appreciation in investments under the fixed income fund would be invested in equivalent units of BAF to give the investor a chance to benefit from higher returns from the equity fund, N K Sharma, chief of business development, said here today. With this option, investors would have options to make systematic investments, withdrawals and transfer to suit their needs. Chief investmentofficer, Bharat C Shah, said the idea of Birla Mutual Fund was to give investors "superior" returns.