Launched in the year 1993, the scheme has a reasonable track record. Since inception, it has returned 16.35 per cent, while in the last one year it gave a return of 173 per cent. Under the scheme, investments upto Rs 10,000 qualify for a tax rebate of 20 per cent under section 88 of the Income-Tax Act. In the current year, Magnum Taxgain has declared a maiden dividend of 25 per cent, which is tax-free for investors.

Another scheme - Magnum Liquibond Income Fund - a fully debt scheme launched in November 1998, declared a half-yearly dividend of 5.25 per cent for the period May-October 1999.

SBI Mutual Fund has also rechristened two of its existing open-ended schemes - Magnum Multiplier Scheme and Magnum Open Fund as Magnum Equity Fund and Magnum Balanced Fund. This has been done in order to bring out the character of the scheme upfront. During the last one year, Magnum Equity Fund and Magnum Balanced Fund gave returns of 117 per cent and 90.59 per cent respectively. Besides this, SBI Mutual Fund is also planning to come out with a gilt fund.

The sector funds umbrella launched by SBI Mutual in July 1999 also has turned in an impressive performance with the IT fund giving the highest return of 73 per cent followed by pharma fund at 23.7 per cent, contra fund at 22.1 per cent and the FMCG fund at 10 per cent. SBI Mutual Fund with over 12 years of operating experience is the country's second largest mutual fund, with assets of over Rs 3,000 crore under management and an investor base of 20 lakh investors.

SBI Mutual Fund expects the market to remain bullish in the coming months. According to the newly appointed chief investment officer Rajat Jain, the markets are expected to pick up in the first quarter of calendar year 2000. Due to year-end redemption pressures, the market is down. The fund would continue to focus on quality companies with an emphasis on strong management.