| . | Investors will feel happy that the forecast for the monsoons indicates a timely on set. This 12 th in a row satisfactory monsoon will be seen as an indication of better times in the stock markets. This belief is borne by the past behavior of the Indian market. Will this age-old belief hold good even in the era of MNC domination? Has the market not changed in character so much that its health is no longer dependent o Agriculture? …Are questions that will be bugging intelligent investors. The main reason for the stock markets to look up on good monsoon prospects is that it helps the large Indian population in villages to experience a surplus buying power. This will spur demand for consumer goods and construction activities, which in turn will give a boost to traders and Industrial workers. Increasing prosperity should also help better revenue realization by the government and higher investments in government projects. Even in the current MNC dominated economy, the main attraction for MNC s in India is its huge under- exploited markets for both consumer soft items such as toothpaste or soaps as well as consumer goods such as TV or Telephone. More money in the hands of our rural population is therefore sweet music to the corporates. The world cup cricket has already given a big boost to many industries this year and good monsoons should pump up the markets enough for it to tide over the effects of the forthcoming elections and its adverse effects if any. Investors may therefore continue to look for investment opportunities with low "Policy Dependence". In this context we may look at the TOP-200 mutual fund scheme of ITC-Threadneedle which has been one of the successful funds in the country. This is an open-ended growth fund, with a policy to invest upto 95 % of its funds in equity. Investors can buy units at the NAV + 2 % sales load. Units can be sold back at the NAV. The disinvestment process may take about 3 to 5 days. Minimum investment can be Rs 2000 only. Investors can also avail the systematic investment plan with a monthly investment of Rs 500. It is therefore a scheme accessible for small investors and carrying a reasonable liquidity. The NAV of the fund as of today was Rs 17.61 per unit and the historical analysis of the growth of the NAV indicates that the NAV of the fund has consistently grown better than the stock indicies. The top 10 stocks in the portfolio at present are as follows:
The portfolio also has a fair share of the Infotech leaders Infosys and NIIT besides the Pharma majors like DR Reddys and Ranbaxy. The presence of Punjab Tractors and Hero Honda indicates that the fund is alive to the prospects of agricultural prosperity and its beneficiaries. At a time when interest rates in the Banking sector are on the decline, investors have to look at the open-ended mutual funds for a reasonable growth with liquidity matching what is available in the Banks. Even though Banks are still the safest forms of investment available for ordinary investors and the most convenient, mutual funds could well be worth trying. Na.Vijayashankar 22 st May 1999 | . |