Franklin India Focused Equity Fund, erstwhile the Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund, focuses on achieving capital appreciation through investments predominantly in Indian companies or sectors with high growth potential. As with any focused equity fund, the Franklin India High Growth Companies fund invests only in a limited number of stocks (Maximum of 30 as per SEBI guidelines) as opposed to other equity mutual funds that typically hold 50-100 stocks. The focused approach on investment in Multi-cap space makes the fund a great option for long term investors looking to invest in companies that grow at a fast pace and offers trade-offs between growth, risk, and valuation.
If you are considering investing in the Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund, here are a few tips to help you decide if this mutual fund is right for you.
Franklin Templeton Asset Management (India) Private Ltd. has been in India for over 20 years now. Setup in 1996, the mutual funds offered by Franklin Templeton have received positive sentiment from the investors.
Franklin Templeton Investments is an American holding company that has multiple subsidiaries around the globe and offers investment options like mutual funds and retirement plans. It has around 600 investment professionals in more than 28 nations all across the world.
The Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund is managed by Roshi Jain, Anand Radhakrishnan and Srikesh Karunakaran Nair. Ms. Roshi has been associated with the company since 2005 and became one of the fund’s co-managers in the year 2012, along with Siva Subramaniam. It was in the year 2014 that she became the lead manager of this fund.
The fund managers invest following key valuation parameters like enterprise value, forward price-to-sales ratio, price-to-earnings ratio, and other factors that account for high growth sectors. The scheme has more than 60% holdings in portfolios dedicated to large organizations while 30% is in mid and small size companies.
No entry load is charged to customers, as per Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) guidelines.
1% if the customer opts to redeem/switch-out within a year from the date of allotment. If the investor has purchased the units in the form of SIP, each SIP installment counts as a fresh unit allotment.
The minimum investment required is Rs. 5000 for the first instance. Subsequent investments can be in multiples of Rs. 1000. The investor can also opt for a Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) which can be started at Rs. 500 per month.
The investment can be redeemed on any business day and can be received as direct credit in the registered bank account or cheque.
Although equity-focused funds are not recommended for tax saving purposes, the Franklin India Focused Equity Fund provides the following tax savings:
The Franklin India Focused Equity Fund Scheme was previously known as Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund, as that was the name with which it was launched on 26 July 2007. Effective from 4 June 2018, the scheme has been renamed to Franklin India Focused Equity Fund, although both varieties are used by many even today.
As with any focused equity fund, the Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund invests in sectors and companies with higher growth rates or above-average potential. The fund managers follow an active investment strategy by focusing on investments in rapid growth Indian companies, measuring sectors or enterprises based on the growth rate, value, annual earnings, sales, etc.
Although the focus on multi-cap space offers a diversified portfolio of large, mid and small size companies, the equity-focused fund is volatile to market conditions. The companies that the fund invests in are primarily in the financial sector, which is dependent on the global economy and the Indian market.
Thus, for someone looking to invest in the fund, the ideal investment horizon should be 5+ years or more, to give enough time to take benefits of the highs and lows in the market.
The high growth companies in the investment portfolio have shown an annualized return of 12.11% year on year and have over 3.5 lakh unique investors as of 30 September 2019. Since the fund invests heavily in the equity market (90%+), the investment is heavily affected by market fluctuations and inherent market risks.
The ideal investment strategy will be to look at the investment as a long-term growth option linked to 5, 8 or 10+ years of duration to get handsome rewards. The fund is suitable for those looking for long term wealth creation options, retirement option or education corpus.
In the last 3-5 years, the scheme has given returns of 9.4% and 22.4%, respectively. This showcases that investors who have a 5+ year investment horizon can benefit greatly by investing in this mutual fund.
| Fund Size in INR (CR) | 7981.32 |
| Portfolio Turnover | 40.41% |
| Expense Ratio | 1.85 |
| Benchmarks | Nifty 50 |
Investment can be made as both Regular and Direct plan variants with Growth or Dividend options. The Direct Plan has relatively lower expense ratio and will cover all administrative and maintenance costs, but with a higher NAV. The growth option reinvests the gains back into the fund, while the dividend options pay out the surplus gains to the investor. For long-term benefits, the growth plan is the best option.
| Growth | 38.15 |
| Dividend | 20.68 |
| Direct-Growth | 40.99 |
| Direct-Dividend | 22.78 |
With a focus primarily on high-growth Equity investments, the High Growth Companies Fund portfolio has 90.13% in Equity and 9.87% in Cash & Cash Equivalents. As per the sector-wise breakdown as of 31/08/2019, the fund's holdings are as follows:
| Sector | Holdings (in %) |
|---|---|
| Banks | 27.58 |
| Call, cash and other current assets | 9.87 |
| Telecom - Services | 8.89 |
| Pharmaceuticals | 8.76 |
| Petroleum Products | 7.73 |
| Cement | 7.7 |
| Construction | 5.11 |
| Gas | 5.04 |
| Power | 4.12 |
| Finance | 3.62 |
| Industrial Products | 3.32 |
| Software | 2.89 |
| Transportation | 2.75 |
| Auto | 1.94 |
| Chemicals | 0.69 |
The top 10 enterprises that this mutual fund has invested in as of 31/08/2019 are:
| Companies | Holding (in %) |
|---|---|
| ICICI Bank Ltd | 9.75 |
| State Bank Of India | 8.58 |
| Bharti Airtel Ltd. | 6.31 |
| Indian Oil Corp Ltd. | 5.06 |
| HDFC Bank | 4.89 |
| UltraTech Cement Ltd. | 4.89 |
| Axis Bank Ltd. | 4.37 |
| NTPC Ltd. | 4.12 |
| Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. | 3.85 |
| Petronet LNG Ltd. | 3.58 |
The top companies that the fund invests in are from the banking and financial sector, followed by the telecom and pharmaceutical sector. As the fund can invest only in a limited number of companies, the chosen companies have high growth potential in their particular sectors and are chosen after careful selection.
The Franklin India High Growth Companies Fund is a great option for those looking to invest long-term in companies and business sectors. The focused investment in companies with high growth potential puts it at moderately high risk. Therefore, this should be well thought out with a long-term investment horizon.
It is also ideal for investors who have advanced knowledge of macro trends and prefer to take selective bets for higher returns compared to other Equity funds. At the same time, these investors should also be ready for the possibility of moderate to high losses in their investments, even though the overall market is performing better.
There are two methods to start investing in any mutual fund scheme. The requirements for those are as follows:
Offline Investment Request: If you plan to raise the investment request offline, you will need basic KYC (Know Your Customer) documents like Aadhar Card, PAN Card, and other identification proof, a post-dated cheque with the bank you want to link your mutual fund scheme with and complete investment forms/bank mandate.
Online Investment Request: If the request is raised online, the investor must complete online Aadhaar based KYC process. Once the online registration is complete, investors have to fill out the pre-filled bank mandate that will be sent to their registered email address. Once the KYC documentation and required documents are uploaded, the process is complete.
Investing in a mutual fund is easy and requires a few documents like:
Application form: You need multiple application forms to get a mutual fund. Firstly, to open a mutual fund account. The second form is required if you opt for a SIP plan within the fund. In case you are opting for an electronic transfer from your bank account, an ECS form will also be required. Some Asset Management Companies may ask for more forms such as a Risk Profile form to be submitted.
KYC Compliance: Under the Know Your Customer (KYC) norms of the Government of India, one needs an authorized PAN card to be able to invest in mutual funds. You can check your KYC compliance or register yourself. You can register at e-KYC Registration. If you are already KYC-compliant, you need to submit the KYC acknowledgement letter or copy of the KYC-compliance page.
KYC Documents: KYC individual form and Passport-sized photograph is needed.
Proof of identity: Any of the following documents are acceptable as proof of identity – PAN with a photograph, Aadhar Card, Passport, Voter’s ID card, Driving licence.
Proof of address: Any of the following documents can be submitted as proof of identity – Aadhar Card, Driving licence, Passport, Voter ID card, Ration card, Registered lease/sale agreement of residence, Flat maintenance bill, Insurance copy, Utility bills such as landline telephone bill, electricity bill or gas bill (less than 3 months old), Bank account statement/passbook (less than 3 months old)
Blank Cheque for SIP or lump sum investment: If the cheque doesn’t have the individual's name on it, then a bank statement for the ongoing month must also be submitted. Blank cheques are not mandatory any more, but may be required in case of SIP investment.
