Investors sometimes "carry home" the notion that mutual funds are just another recourse of reaping better returns than the conventional bank deposits. However if offered with the option of a fund; that invests in large and mid cap stocks, with low volatility, shoulders an endeavor to identify sunrise stocks and dishes out returns as high as 50% year after year; helps the investor attain all that he aspires for, in any investment.

One such fund from the lineage of Birla Sunlife Mutual Fund, is the Birla Sun Life Equity Fund. Launched in 1998, the Birla Sun Life Equity Fund, has the primary objective of providing long term capital appreciation by investing about 90-100% of the corpus in the equity markets; keeping open the option for investing upto 10% in debt and money market instruments.

Comparing the fund on return scale, with its Benchmark BSE 200 Index, the fund harvested returns of 41.21% since its take-off and 50.88% over a five-year period as compared to the benchmark returns of 21.56% and 35.98% respectively. On a short term horizon, the fund has given a return of 46.53% and 59.18% over a one year and three year period, as against the benchmark's 36.92% and 42.24% respectively, outshining all its akin.

The assets under management (AUM) of the fund elevated to Rs 651.37 crore as on April 2007 from Rs 420.69 crore, a year ago, alluring the investors confidence in the scheme.

The fund has adhered to its objective of investing in a well-diversified portfolio by investing in about 14 sectors over a spread of 40 to 45 stocks; wherein Bharti Airtel, Infosys Technologies, Crompton Greaves, Siemens and M&M are the top five holdings of the fund, contributing to 21.58% of the portfolio, as on April 2007. The flag is held high by; Industrial Capital Goods, Software, Telecom Services, Banking and Auto which sit- tight as the top five sectors on the funds list representing 53.34% of portfolio.

The fund has also channeled its investments in the "sun-rise sectors" like retail, media, and telecom, which comprise of stocks, which can be potential multibaggers if ascertained in the juvenile stage of their lifecycle.

The 'magnum opus' of the fund is that the fund manager has a diversified portfolio, establishing its presence in about 14 sectors, it has consistently managed to give out impressive returns with a minimal portfolio churn in the last one year.

Magnifying the portfolio further, we observe that over the last one-year, Software and Industrial Capital Goods have remained the two sectors; the fund manager has bet upon. Going ahead, the fund has increased exposure to Industrial Capital Goods from 13.95% in October 2006 to 18.42% in April 2007.

In an eloquent conversation with Myiris on the large allocation to this sector, fund manager Mr. Mahesh Patil rationalised, "the capex cycle has yet to reach its peak, and with the strong GDP growth the capex spending will continue to gain momentum despite high interest rates. Companies in the cap goods sector are technology oriented companies and the entry barriers are high...also they have high Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) and generate free cash flows. The growing order books give strong visibility for growth in the near future".

Elucidating the fund's stand on Software stocks, which have taken a hit due to the rising rupee also, feature topmost on the list of sectors Mr. Patil spelled out, "We feel the underlying volume growth for IT companies continues to remain strong and after some adjustment to the earnings estimates due to rising rupee the future growth should be intact. The rupee is highly overvalued and any depreciation could see a sharp rise in IT stock prices...it could pay to be contrarian in IT at this point in time".

Envisaging the stock market to the infinite sea, one has to think-twice before getting ready for the dive. One needs to know how shallow or the deep is the water before taking the plunge; as, where on one hand are the chances of striking a valuable pearl, on the other hand are incidents of getting carried away with the harsh water currents. Following the same guidelines; a disciplined investment will help you reap the desired benefits and an inchoate investment decision can dismantle the pillars of your investment aspirations.

Birla Sunlife Equity Fund that embraces discipline coupled with great returns is the answer to the your investment queries.