As on December 10,1999 out of total assets under management, Rs 760 crore was in equity funds. Bulk of which were in the Alliance Equity Fund and Alliance '95 Fund.

The sponsors, Alliance Capital Management of USA, have on date about Rs 313.2 crore assets in India Liberalisation Fund (an India-dedicated fund), Rs 391.5 crore allocated to Indian equity and Rs 435 crore in Indian GDRs/ADRs, Arora pointed out. This takes the combined equity exposure of Alliance funds to the Indian equity markets to Rs 1900 crore.

Giving reasons why he thought India was the most favoured destination for foreign portfolio investors, Arora said the most important reason was the availability of a wide spectrum of growth stocks in the fancied sectors like information technology, pharmaceuticals and fast moving consumer goods unlike other countries in the region where the choice of listed stocks for investment was limited.

In addition, he said, the presence of listed multinational companies in India was also attractive for foreign investors. Besides, returns from the capital markets had improved in the last three years. The overall growth of the Indian capital market was 77 per cent in the last one year and 52 per cent in the last three years. In fact, the return of 52 per cent makes India the best-performing markets over the three year period.

According to Arora, the Indian markets will do well due to a wide menu of companies, self-initiated corporate restructuring, improving corporate governance, low inflation, political certainty and strong domestic flows into equity markets.

``Only companies in India, Taiwan, Hong Kong and China in Asia earn more than cost of capital. Besides, whole of Asian governments and corporates are restructuring,'' he added. On the launch of the new funds, Arora said that the three funds will cover 95 per cent of the market as percentage of BSE 200.

Alliance Equity Fund has given a annualised return of 144.2 per cent till November 30, 1999. The fund was launched in August last year. As on November 30, the fund has assets of Rs 354.4 crore. The top ten stocks include Satyam, Infosys, Zee, Global Tele-Systems, HFCL, Larsen & Toubro, Digital Equipment, Software Solution, Citicorp and HDFC Bank. The fund carries an entry load of 1.75 per cent.

The fund's flagship, Alliance Balanced fund has generated an annualised return of 39 per cent since inception with the NAV at Rs 46.74. The total assets under Alliance '95 are Rs 387.4 crore.