The fund, formerly known as ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip Equity Fund is a growth-oriented large-cap equity mutual fund. The objective of the fund is to generate long term capital appreciation and income distribution for its unitholders.
Launched in May 2008, the fund has been a consistent top performer in the category with above-average returns since inception. As of June 30th 2019, the fund is ranked third by CRISIL Ratings, a recognition of its stellar performance.
The fund predominantly invests in equity and equity-related securities of fundamentally strong large-cap companies, which offers growth as well as stability during volatile market conditions to investors.
The investment objective of the scheme is:
"The scheme seeks to generate long term capital appreciation and income distribution to investors from a portfolio that is predominantly invested in equity and equity-related securities of large-cap companies. However, there can be no assurance or guarantee that the investment objective of the Scheme would be achieved." The fund maintains 89.92% of its assets in giant and large market cap companies, 2.89% of the asset is invested in Nifty 50 Index-Futures and rest 7.38% of the asset is invested various short term debt securities.
In earlier days after the introduction, the fund restricted its investment activity in up to 20 large-cap companies, selected from the top 200 companies listed on the National Stock Exchange. But, there was a condition that, if the fund's AUM crosses Rs. 1000 crore, then the fund managers can widen their investment activity beyond 20 companies.
Now, after more than ten years of inception, the fund has an AUM of Rs. 21,125 crore (as in July 31st 2019), with exposure in 52 stocks.
| Turnover Ratio | 24% |
| Expense Ratio (Regular Plan) | 1.83% |
| Mean | 9.07% |
| Standard Deviation | 11.37% |
| Sharpe Ratio | 0.27% |
| Sortino | 0.44% |
| Beta | 0.86% |
| R-Squared | 0.95% |
| Alpha | -1.68% |
Mr. Tawakley is managing the fund since September 2018 along with three more funds within the ICICI Pru AMC stable. Prior to joining ICICI AMC, Mr. Tawakley has worked with many asset management companies, like Barclays India - Equity research, Credit Suisse India - Equity research, Indian financial services sector.
He has completed his PGDM from IIM Bombay and B. Tech (Mechanical Engineering) from IIT Delhi. Rajat Chandak
Mr. Chandak is managing the fund since July 2017, with nine other funds belonging to the ICICI Pru AMC.
Mr. Chandak has been associated with ICICI Prudential AMC since 2008 and holds B.COM (H) and MBA degree.
| Investment Period | Annualised Return (%) | Category Average (%) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Year | -6.59 | -5.83 |
| 3 Year | 7.93 | 6.54 |
| 5 Year | 8.71 | 7.85 |
| 10 Year | 12.73 | 10.42 |
Returns recorded as on August 31st 2019
| SIP Returns | 1 yr | 3 yr | 5 yr | 10 yr | Since Inception (May 2008) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fund Returns (CAGR %) | -2.55 | 5.37 | 8.04 | 11.90 | 13.21 |
| Benchmark Returns (CAGR%) | -2.10 | 6.88 | 8.72 | 10.93 | 11.66 |
Returns recorded as on July 31st 2019
The top 10 holdings of the fund constitute 48.62% of the total portfolio.
| Stocks | Percentage |
|---|---|
| HDFC Bank | 9.36 |
| ICICI Bank | 6.83 |
| Infosys | 6.37 |
| Bharti Airtel | 4.19 |
| HDFC | 3.85 |
| SBI Life Insurance | 3.84 |
| NTPC | 3.73 |
| ITC | 3.72 |
| Larsen & Toubro | 3.41 |
| Axis Bank | 3.41 |
Launched during the period of economic uncertainty and global recession, the scheme has proved its mettle in the tough market conditions and different economic cycles. It has generated above-average returns for its investors compared to its peer in the category over the long term.
The fund's strategy to invest in fundamentally strong large-sized companies has paid off handsomely. This has allowed them to better deal with the short-term volatility and pocket higher returns during the market recovery.
Over the long term period (five years to ten years), through its well-executed investment strategy, the fund has outperformed its category in range of 1% to 3%.
Turnover Ratio (TR) indicates the number of portfolios changed during the given period. Most of the actively managed equity mutual funds have TR of close to 100%, which means the fund's portfolio witnesses a change of 100% during the given period. Higher TR translates into a higher expense ratio, which affects the overall return of the fund.
With low TR, the fund managers are able to keep the fund's operating costs low, thus increasing the return percentage.
The fund has an annualised SD of 11.37 compared to benchmark SD of 12.91, which indicates lower volatility in the fund and more predictable returns.
Beta is the measure of volatility in the fund with respect to the benchmark index. The fund's portfolio Beta of 0.86 indicates that the fund is theoretically less volatile compared to its benchmark index and is less risky too.
Sharpe Ratio is one of the most important ratios to look at before buying a fund. It calculates the risk-adjusted returns of the fund. High value of the ratio means the fund is able to generate better returns against the amount of risk taken. The fund has a Sharpe ratio of 0.29, compared to the category average of 0.15, which means the fund has better risk-adjusted returns amongst its peers.
Investment in ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund can be made through both online and offline modes.
In offline mode, you need to approach a registered mutual fund adviser or visit the nearest ICICI Pru office with the following documents:
Visit the website of ICICI Pru AMC and get yourself registered by providing a valid email address and mobile phone number. After successful account creation, fill the basic details and upload the soft copies of PAN Card & Aadhaar Card to complete the eKYC verification process.
Then, in the next step, select the fund you want to invest, enter bank account details to set up SIP account and to process the redemption when the units are redeemed.
You can Invest through FinTech platforms, where you first need to set up an account and complete the eKYC verification process, the same as in the first option.
After successful e-verification, select the fund house and scheme you want to invest in, and fill in the necessary details as prompted by the system to get started with your investment journey.
What is ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip Equity Fund?
ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip Equity Fund is the former name of ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund. It changed its name on May 28th, 2018 and is an open-ended large-cap equity mutual fund.
With the change in its name, the fund also revised its benchmark index from Nifty 50 TRI to Nifty 100 TRI.
It focuses on long term wealth creation and income distribution by investing in fundamentally strong large-cap companies. The fund is not a very-aggressive type and aims to generate higher returns compared to its benchmark index.
The scheme is ranked 3rd by CRISIL rating for its consistent and above-average returns since its inception.
How is ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund?
ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund is the consistent top performer in its category since its inception and is well-suited for every kind of investors, whether conservative or aggressive.
The fund's strategy to invest in large-sized companies with long business history has helped it to beat the bear cycles in the last ten years and pocket huge gains during the recovery process. Further, the fund has a great risk-adjusted return in the category, with less volatile and less risky portfolio combination.
Further, the fund closely follows the performance of its benchmark index, which is quite evident from the fund's R-Squared value of 0.95. Since its inception, the fund has provided an annualised return of 13.17%. Also, in the past 5 years and 10 years period, it has generated a return of 8.71% and 12.71%, respectively, thereby outperforming its category and benchmark by a healthy margin.
What are 'Bluechip' funds?
The term 'Bluechip' stock was first coined by Oliver Gingold, an employee at Dow Jones in 1923 to refer to the highly-priced stocks at that time. However, the origin of the word blue chip can also be found in the game of poker, where blue chips are the most expensive chip in the game. Now, the term bluechip is more synonymous to high-quality stocks.
Bluechip Funds indicate those funds which invest in well-established companies with a credible track record, sound financials, consistent profitability and regular-dividend payments.
The stocks of bluechip companies are known to be less volatile compared to stocks of mid and small-cap companies. In general, bluechip companies are more likely to survive the economic downturn period, which makes it a safer investment option for long term.
Which are the best mutual funds?
There are many ways through which you can find the best mutual funds in different categories. But, the primary criteria for choosing the best mutual fund should be to check whether the fund is true to its stated investment objective. This criterion greatly helps in deciding whether the fund would turn out to be a worthy investment in the long term period for you or not. Sticking to investment objective shows the fund manager's discipline, conviction and the probability of success in the long term. Other criterion includes,
Small AUM schemes are very risky, as the quality of investors in such scheme remains a question and also doesn't have a consistent investment objective.
