SBI funds plummet

It was a year that SBI Mutual Fund and its investors are not going to forget in a hurry. For an AMC, which produced chart-busting returns in 1999, nothing could have been more painful than seeing its funds at the bottom of each category in 2000. Apart from technology heavy portfolios, some of the other big-ticket holdings of Magnum funds turned out to be a big disappointment. The AMC's open-end bond fund also hit the bottom of the deck, its performance impacted by frequent change in fund managers. Magnum Liquibond saw as many as four fund managers in 2000. The current incumbent, Pijush Das is now managing the fund since June 2000. Take for instance, Magnum Multiplier Plus. This diversified equity fund lost over 50% in calendar 2000 as the NAV plummeted from Rs 39.23 to Rs 19.49. The fund is at the bottom of the Value Research category, which has 66 diversified equity funds. The sharp drop in the NAV has pulled down the assets from Rs 899 crore in February to mere Rs 347 crore in November. The same fund had delivered a blistering return of 220 per cent in 1999. Or, for example the AMC's balanced fund lost over 30% in 2000 and was again placed at the bottom of the return ladder. Apart from concentrated holdings in technology stocks, the fund has had a reasonable exposure to mid-cap stocks. Some of the top holdings of the fund like Aftek Infosys, Zee and SSI suffered sharp erosion in 2000. For instance, Aftek Infosys slid by nearly 70% last year from Rs 2126 to Rs 646. The exposure to the technology se