Being contrarian in nature to focus on out-of-favour stocks, the fund had a very low exposure to technology in 1999. So no great returns that year and in the next.

But, it fell by just 5.52 per cent in 2001. The next year, it gave a return of 32.74 per cent (category average: 19.43 per cent). The year 2003 saw it dipping from the top-quartile position when it gave a return just above the category average.

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In 2004, it shot to fame as the second best-performing fund with a 64.49 per cent return (category average: 25.84 per cent). In 2005, it was the third best-performing fund with a 71 per cent return (category average: 46.70 per cent). The fund has a large-cap orientation (over 51 per cent). Last year, large-caps on an average occupied 57.80 per cent of the portfolio.

The new fund manager in mid-2005 focused on toning down aggression. It is extremely diversified across 50 stocks (as on March 31) with the top-three sectors accounting for just around 34 per cent of the total allocation. The topmost holding  - Praj Industries - accounts for just 5.16 per cent, while the top-three stocks constitute over 13 per cent of the portfolio. This is a significant shift from its earlier aggressive stance.

Besides stocks, the fund also took concentrated sector bets: auto in August 2004 (25.38 per cent), construction in January 2005 (22.40 per cent), metals and metal products in February 2005 (19.48 per cent). Not so any longer.

As on March 2007, the topmost sector - basic/engineering - accounted for 11 per cent of the portfolio. The fund has been bullish on the construction and the automobile sectors last year, though allocation to these two sectors has decreased over the months.

As on April 30, 2007, its one-year, two-year, three-year and five-year returns are way ahead of the category average.