Though past performance is hardly a sure pointer to the future, the longevity of a fund and its sustained performance are factors any retail investor should look at. Reliance Vision is one equity fund which has been around for quite some time and has rewarded investors quite well over the longer horizon. Launched in 1995, the fund has a stated objective of achieving long-term capital growth by investing in equity and equity-related securities. It normally invests in large cap, highly liquid stocks with good fundamentals and long-term prospects.

The fund has registered a return of 28.06% since inception as against benchmark (BSE 100 Index) return of 12.97%. The fund has performed handsomely over the longer term horizon, posting annualized returns of 38.15% and 52.68% for the last three and five years compared with the modest 28.93% and 30.63% gains recorded by the benchmark BSE 100 Index over the comparable period. However the fund`s return for the last one year has been less than spectacular underperforming the broad indices and in this respect is well behind the leaders in this category.

The fund has reported a jump of 35% in assets under management to Rs 2,474 crore as at March 2007 from the previous year's level of Rs 1832 crore. The equity portfolio of the scheme is well diversified; with around 15 sectors and spread over 30 to 35 stocks. Taking a look at the fund portfolio, Tata Motors, Siemens, Divis`s Labs, Reliance Industries and Infosys Technologies are the top five holdings, which contribute 27.23% to the total portfolio as of March 31st 2007. Capital Goods, Automobiles and Software services are the top three sectors contributing 32.44% of the overall portfolio.

The top 10 holdings contribute 47.86% to the total portfolio. The fund manager has not changed its top ten holdings in the last few months but over a one-year period you can see that the fund manager has completely churned the entire portfolio. The fund has added Gujarat Ambuja Cement and Network 18 Fincap to its portfolio in the month of March 2007 whereas it has exited Suzlon Energy, Hero Honda motors, Dr Reddy labs and Indian Oil Corporation from its portfolio in the same month. The fund manager has booked some profit in Reliance Communications, Indian Petrochemicals Corporation and JSW Steel as well in the month of March 07.

The fund is managed by Mr. Ashwani Kumar holds a B.Sc degree and an MBA in Finance. He has over 10 years of experience and has previously worked with Zurich Asset Management. When queried by myiris about the reason for decline in fund`s short-term returns, Ashwani Kumar fund said that the fund had higher exposure to stocks in the cement and auto sector, which has underperformed in last 3 months. Commenting on the asset allocation strategy and whether there are any plans to change the asset allocation, he said that the fund maintains 5-15% cash depending upon the market view available opportunities and no major deviation is expected from these numbers.

On the whole, this is a large company investment oriented fund with historically lower risk characteristics. From that point of view, investors who have in their mind consistent returns with moderate risk can take a closer look at Reliance Vision Fund.