Franklin India Bluechip: A must have fund in a Portfolio

Franklin India Bluechip Fund is a Large cap oriented open ended fund with major preference given to Banking sector. With its good track record, this fund has managed to outperform its Benchmark-BSE Sensex across periods. Being a consistent performer, investors can look toward making it as a core part of the portfolio, reckons Financial advisor Arnav Pandya.

• The fund focuses on large cap stocks and is one of the schemes in the market with a distinctive track record. At the end of June 2010, the fund had 17 per cent of its assets in Banks followed by Industrial capital goods and software both of which had around 10 per cent of the assets. In terms of individual stocks, Infosys with an exposure of nearly 8 per cent was the top holding followed by Reliance Industries, HDFC bank, and Bharti. The fund had a turnover ratio of nearly 95 per cent and it was outperforming the benchmark the Sensex over the one, three, and five year time periods.
• Six months later, Banks retained the top spot in terms of sector exposure with the figure here at 17 per cent. Software was next followed by Petroleum products, Industrial capital goods, Telecom, and Power. Bharti was now the top holding followed by Infosys, Reliance Industries, and ICICI Bank. The portfolio turnover ratio declined slightly and the fund was outperforming the benchmark over the one, three, and five year time periods.
• At the end of June 2011 the exposure to banks was even higher at 20 per cent and this was followed by software and telecom. Infosys was once again in the top spot followed closely behind by Bharti and ICICI Bank. What was significant was that four of the top ten holdings consisted of banks. The portfolio turnover ratio was now down to 75 per cent and the outperformance continued over all time periods.
• After another six months, there was not much change in the position on the sector front as Banks remained at the top followed by Software and Telecom.  Infosys managed to retain the top holding in individual terms followed by Bharti, Reliance Industries and ICICI Bank. There were now just 2 banks in the top ten and also two telecom companies.  The fund remained an outperformer over all the time periods.
• The exposure to Banks once again was up at the end of June 2012 with the figure here at 25 per cent of the total portfolio. Telecom was in the second place ahead of Software and Pharma.  ICICI Bank with an exposure of over 7 per cent of the portfolio was in the top spot and this was followed by Infosys and Bharti.  There were just three banks in the top ten list and the portfolio turnover ratio was now down to 36 per cent. The fund was an outperformer over the one and three year time periods.
• This is a fund that can form the core part of the portfolio of an investor.  The large cap nature of the fund and its impressive track record makes this a suitable selection for first time investors as well as existing investors.