This fund has been blowing its rivals out of the water. The fund manager explains why.

Forty-eight per cent of investor money in Mahindra Manulife MF's equity and hybrid categories rests on Fatema Pacha's shoulders. A fund manager at Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund since October 2020, she co-leads eight funds - of which three have a Value Research Rating of 4 stars. One such fund is the Mahindra Manulife Aggressive Hybrid, which has consistently outperformed its average peer. During our recent conversation, we asked her about the reasons behind the fund's amazing consistency. Beyond that, we also learnt about the fund house's investment philosophy and the sectors they currently favour. Here is an edited excerpt from the interview. Help us understand your investment framework. Mainly, how are stock ideas generated? And, are there any non-negotiables built into the framework? We follow the GCMV process while evaluating every company. GCMV analyses every company Growth potential, Cash flow capabilities, Management quality and valuation comfort. Considering that Indian economy & markets are growth oriented, greater emphasis is placed on GCM while Valuations becomes a bit subjective. A philosophy across all our funds is that we run portfolios using a blend of both growth & value. We don't have a set philosophy (Value or Growth). Reason being, the Indian economy and markets offer investment opportunities across companies to capture both earning growth as well valuation re-rating. The blend approach can result in a portfolio holding both, a Nykaa (currently a non-profit making company) and a Coal India (high dividend yield stock), at the same time. Stock selection tends to be more bottom-up. Analysts and fund managers cover baskets of stocks based on macro themes viz. Consumption, Financials, Industrials, Exports and Commodities. The entire electronic manufacturing theme recent