The Pragmatist

He is a Bollywood buff and loves to watch films. He brings the same keenness to his job as a fund manager.

Sadanand Shetty, 38, Vice President and Senior Fund Manager, Equity, Taurus Mutual Fund, has 16 years of experience working with reputed financial institutions across India. With Taurus since May 2010, he has been instrumental in beating all the performance benchmarks.

In the past three years, Taurus Tax Shield has generated returns of 18 per cent and 12 per cent primarily under the stewardship of Nitish Ojha and Prasanna Pathak in between April 2007 and December 2009.

Shetty's investment strategy has been growth oriented. "Strategy is a reflection of the market... India is a growth market," he says. He does not believe in taking unnecessary risks either.

"While we talk of long-term performance, we also know that performance is being evaluated on a regular basis by the markets. The assets that I manage are equity assets and are benchmarked against the indices." He couldn't be more candid.

WINNER: Sadanand Shetty

FUND: Taurus Tax Shield

FUND TYPE: Equity/ Tax Planning

FUND MANAGER SINCE: May 2010

3-YEAR ANNUALISED RETURNS: 18.51%

INVESTING STRATEGY: Growth-oriented

INVESTING PHILOSOPHY: Look for companies with good management

RUNNER-UP 1 : Anand Shah, Canara Robeco Equity Tax Saver

RUNNER-UP 2 : A N Sridhar, Sahara Tax Gain