DWS Alpha Equity

With a large-cap bent, this fund can be core holding. Apart from 2005 and 2009, the fund has outperformed its category every year and has build up a decent track record with a 5-year annualised return of 22 per cent (January 31, 2010), a tad higher than the category average of 20 per cent.

When Inamdar joined in June 2007 he made some notable changes in the portfolio. He moved up the exposure to Energy from 9.43 per cent in May to as high as 28 per cent in October and added stocks like Gujarat N R E Coke, NTPC and Cairn India along with Diversified sector stocks like Grasim Industries and Aditya Birla Nuvo, Sintex Industries. The weightage to Metals doubled from 5.61 per cent in October to 10.17 per cent in January 2008 while Technology and Chemicals dropped. The result was a performance of 67 per cent in 2007, ahead of the category average by 15 per cent margin.

When the market tanked in 2008, the fund manager took shelter under cash and also increased the allocation to FMCG. However, the fund manager was not too quick to lower the allocation to the FMCG sector even after the markets took a U-turn to start for their upward journey in March 2009. Apart from this, the cash exposure was also brought down only in May. Probably the reason why the fund underperformed in 2009. Inamdar frequently churns the portfolio and does not hesitate in taking aggressive stock bets. While allocation has exceeded 8 per cent a number of times, investors do not have to worry about needless aggression.