"We wanted to first make an impact through our performance and then think about size. Now, that we have an impeccable track record in terms of performance and a whole family of funds to meet every taste of an investor, we want to increase our reach", said the chief executive officer of Sun F&C asset management company (AMC), Nikhil Khattau. Sun F&C Mutual Fund currently manages three domestic funds and one off-shore fund, the India Performance Fund (based in Mauritius). The India Performance Fund has a corpus of Rs 64 crore.

The road-map that has been charted out by the fund involves expanding the funds coverage to 4-6 centres shortly, and then move nationwide. "The focus is onincreasing awareness about the performance and track record of our funds, the risk-return trade-off of our funds, the products on the shelf, the services on offer, expanding distribution network and aggressive marketing", said Khattau.

"We plan to get aggressive in our marketing with relatively increased expenditure on advertising and selling, to high net-worth individuals, corporates and retail clients", said Khattau.

The Sun F&C Value Fund, an open-ended equity fund, has given returns of 23.90 per cent for the year ended September 30 as compared to 19 per cent fall in the Sensex thus outperforming the Sensex by 42 per cent. The fund has an impeccable track record with the net asset value rising from Rs 10.82 as on March 31 to Rs 12.39 as on September 30 with no entry or exit load. "The average P/E to growth ratio of this fund is 40 per cent lower than the market thus showing that the portfolio consists of value stocks", added Khattau.

Sun F&C had recently closed the initial subscription to anopen-ended dual option income scheme aiming at liquidity and returns. The fund garnered Rs 7 crore in the initial subscription and would be a major area of focus in the new mantra for Sun F&C.

"With the government giving an impetus to buy-back of shares, increased privatisation and expenditure on infrastructure the international sentiment will change and we will see increased flow of money into India. Currently, also the sentiment has turned positive. The world is viewing India separately from the club of South-East Asian economies and we might see the sentiment improve further", said Khattau.