While 30-share sensitive index has witnessed a net rise of 8 per cent, the net asset values of as many as 11 funds has gone up by more than 15 per cent. On the flip side, 8 funds have failed to beat the Sensex. The underperformers include the three open-end funds from UTI. While size is a constraint is case of Mastergain and Masterplus, the underperformance of Grandmaster is baffling since its corpus is less than Rs 60 crore. ``Underperformance of Grandmaster is surprising since investments of a Rs 60-crore fund is easily maneuverable. It points to an inept fund management,''said an analyst. The open-end family of equity funds has 31 schemes from 19 asset management companies.

The three defensive sectors of information technology, FMCG and pharma continue to be the panacea for equity funds in 1999 as well. The funds that have outperformed the indices by impressive margins either hold a bulk of their investments in one of these sectors or have an assortment of these three sectors.

``Equity funds have found a way out of the overall slump in the economy by latching on to these sectors. Even value investor like Templeton has picked up Satyam Computer and Ranbaxy Laboratories which shows that funds have realised that these are the only sectors that can generate absolute returns for investors,'' said an analyst. ``It now depends on the fund manager to identify and pickup the right scrip from these three sectors which will give good returns,'' he added.

While the scrips from these sectors have been rising on a consistent basis, the declaration of third quarter results hascoincided with fresh FII allocations has aided the rally at these counters.

The top gainer has been Kothari Pioneer Infotech Fund, whose NAV has seen a spurt of 30 per cent to Rs 16.44. The launch of this sectoral fund with investments in the IT sector has seen investors reap a windfall in just five months. Birla Advantage is placed second with a return of 21 per cent. The NAV has now crossed the Rs 20-mark. The fund has close to 40 per cent weightage to the pharma sector. ``The pharma counters are long-term bets and could have seen a higher appreciation had the patents bill been passed by the Parliament,'' said a fund manager.

The big surprise has been K-30 from Kotak MF which has posted a 19 per cent return in less than a month. The fund's NAV is now inching towards Rs 12.