SBI MF cuts exposure to IT, auto, oil & gas

SBI Mutual Fund has pared exposure to Information Technology, Automotive and Oil & Gas sectors while increased to Cement & Construction, Banking & Financial Services and Metals & Mining sectors. Bajaj Auto Finance, HPCL and Rural Electrification were top buys while Atul, Reliance Petroleum and Indiabulls Real Estate were top sells.
A study of the equity portfolios managed by the SBI Mutual Fund as on December 31, shows that in the Information Technology sector, it has sold shares of Infosys Technologies, Satyam Computer and TCS.
Selling was also seen in automotive space, wherein it offloaded Maruti Suzuki, Apollo Tyres and Tata Motors.

In the Oil & Gas pack, it has cut some exposure to Reliance Industries, ONGC, BPCL and Aban Offshore. However, it has purchased HPCL.
The fund house has increased exposure to Cement & Construction, Banking & Financial Services and Metals & Mining sectors.
In the Cement & Construction space, it has bought shares of Jaiprakash Associates, HCC, Nagarjuna Construction and GMR Infrastructure while sold IVRCL Infra.

The fund house also increased stake in Banking & Financial Services segment. It purchased shares of SBI, ICICI Bank and IDFC. However, it sold HDFC and Kotak Mahindra Bank.
SBI Mutual Fund has raised its investment in Metals & Mining pack, as it bought Tata Steel, Welspun Gujarat and GMDC. However, it sold Sterlite Industries and Hindalco Industries, and exited JSW Steel.

Fact of the matter

A mutual fund scheme`s fact sheet is like a monthly report card. It provides information to investors about where and how their funds have been deployed.

A mutual fund scheme's fact sheet is like a monthly report card. It provides information to investors about where and how their funds have been deployed. It also showcases the performance of the scheme and the quality of investments. Sometimes, the monthly reports are also accompanied by the fund manager's views and comments.
There is no standardised format for a fact sheet. The Association of Mutual Funds of India has suggested that all fund houses have a uniform format, but as there is no guideline from Sebi, fact sheets across the fund houses tend to be different.
However, the important details of equity and debt funds in the fact sheet are almost the same for fund houses. Here are the vital points that an investor can check in a fact sheet:

Stock allocation: It lists the individual stocks in which the fund has invested its corpus, as also their proportion. Equity funds plough in money in a large number of stocks, but investors must consider the top holdings (eight to 10 stocks) of the fund's scheme. This will help them determine the extent of diversification by the fund.
Sector allocation: This is important as equity diversified funds invest across sectors to derive the benefit of diversification. The funds that consistently allocate a substantial proportion of their assets to a single sector are more likely to be affected by factors such as a slump in that particular sector. Diversifying across various sectors helps offset the negative effects of a downside in a couple of sectors.
Cash levels: In the past few years, mutual funds have increasingly been using cash as a strategic tool to combat volatility. Check your fund's cash level as it can hint at the market conditions your fund manager is expecting in the near future. For instance, if the cash level is high, it probably means that the fund manager is expecting market uncertainty.
Expense ratios and loads: Check the expense ratio along with the entry or exit loads associated with the scheme. The fund's net asset value is computed after factoring in these expenses. The higher the expenses charged by the fund, the lower are the returns received by the investors. In case of debt funds, the indicators that one should look for are different from those that are common to equity-oriented funds. The factors important for debt funds include the quality of investments, maturity and rating profile.
Average maturity: As the performance of a debt fund is inversely related to interest rates, the average maturity of the fund's debt holdings is of utmost importance. If the average maturity is consistently high (over a period of time), it implies that the manager expects the interest rates to fall in the future, and vice versa.
Rating profile: Debt funds invest in securities with different credit ratings (e.g. AAA, AA+). Such ratings determine the risk profile of a debt fund. The funds that invest the majority of their corpus in low-rated debt instruments are prone to high credit risk, which can affect their performance considerably. There are other facts in the fact sheet that are common to both equity and debt funds such as the investment objective, performance of the fund, applicable dividends, performance of the fund versus that of the benchmark, and the past performance compared with funds within the peer set.

Tata Infrastructure Tax Saving Fund

Scheme Feature-
Tata Infrastructure Tax Saving Fund is a close - ended Equity Linked Savings Scheme offering Tax benefits to eligible assessees under Section 80 C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The Scheme seeks to provide medium to long term capital gain by investing predominantly in equity / equity related instruments of the companies in infrastructure and infrastructure related sectors along with the income tax benefit to its unitholders.
The duration of the scheme is 10 years from the date of allotment and has a minimum lock in period of 3 years.
NFO Opening Date-17th December 2008
NFO Closing Date- 16th March 2009
Entry Load- For amount < Rs. 2 Cr, exit load charged will be 2.25%
For amount >= Rs. 2 Cr, exit load charged will be nil.
Exit Load- There is a 3 year Lock-in Period.
Minimum Amout- Rs.500/- and in multiples of Rs.500/-
Benchmark Index- BSE Sensex
Fund Manager- Venugopal M. and Mahendra Jajoo