UTI's drive to add Infosys to its portfolio explains the dramatic rise in the value of the Infosys scrips over the last few moths. A complete picture of UTI's holding in Infosys will be available when the Trust discloses the portfolios of all the other equity schemes.

But the disclosures made so far suggests UTI's fund managers' preference for Infosys Technologies, which is among the top five in most of its schemes. Of the 13 schemes for which detailed portfolio holding is available, Infosys accounts for an average holding of 9.5 per cent based on the market value. These 13 schemes have a total size of Rs 21,800 crore, with Infosys accounting for nearly Rs 2074 crore. These 13 schemes do not include UTI's growth sector funds launched last year. Under the umbrella of growth sector funds, UTI has a software fund and a service sector fund, where again Infosys tops the holdings accounting for 18.82 per cent and 21.20 per cent.

Infosys figures as the top holding in five out of the nine Master Equity Plan series. Infosys tops the portfolio table in terms of market value in MEP91, MEP 95, MEP 97, MEP98 and MEP99.

UTI's aggressive churning of portfolio in favour of Infosys can be seen from one of its relatively small funds, US-95. US 95 is an institutional scheme under which UTI had taken an exposure of a whopping 29.66 per cent as on December 31, 1999. But by March 1, 2000, the share of Infosys in the total holding was diluted substantially to 13.77 per cent. US-95, however, is a relatively small fund with a market value of Rs 174 crore. This fund has now been thrown open to retail investors by the Trust, which has brought down the minimum investment to Rs 10,000 from Rs 10 lakh.

Another example of UTI fund manager's penchant for Infosys can be seen in Primary Equity Fund, launched in April 1995. The NAV of the fund has appreciated by 117.91 per cent during the one-year period ending December 31, 1999. Software and media account for 34.1 per cent of the portfolio, with NIIT, Visual Software and Infosys figuring prominently among the top five.

The Trust's Equity Opportunity Fund with a size of just about Rs 25 crore has Infosys Technologies as the top holding, accounting for 10.02 per cent of the portfolio.

In most of the schemes mentioned above, UTI hardly had any exposure to Infosys and does not figure in the top 25 holding, as the end of June 1999. UTI undertook an aggressive restructuring exercise in most of its equity schemes, making way for the software sector, while diluting the holdings in cyclicals. The restructuring exercise was not confined to the US-64 scheme alone. This has helped UTI show phenomenal returns in most of its equity schemes in line with the rest of the mutual fund industry.

However, with UTI taking such a massive exposure to Infosys, the movement of the scrip will now depend to a large extent on the view taken by the institution.