Top MF buys in the first half of 2019

As the competition among mutual funds is intensifying, fund managers and of course, the funds they manage are under pressure to outperform the benchmark. Since fund houses have people with in-depth experience and expertise in making buying-and-selling decisions, it is worth tracking their buys to get a good idea of what kind of bets they are willing to take and where they are willing to take them. We have delved into the highest amount spent by the mutual fund industry in the mid-cap space in the first half of the calendar year and come up with the following three stocks. With an NBFC and a struggling telecom operator coming up as the top buys, we wonder whether managers have resorted to contrarian bets to generate significant alpha. Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Starting its journey as an equipment finance company, this part of the Murugappa group has now become a full financial services company offering vehicle loans, home loans, home equity loans, SME loans, investment advisory services, stockbroking, to name a few. The company operates through 911 branches and its assets under management stood at Rs 57,560 crore as of F