Skip to main content

ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip Equity Fund

Invest In Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)

 

ICICI Focused Bluechip Equity Fund

If you wish to start building an equity portfolio with mutual funds, then ICICI Pru Focused Bluechip Equity (ICICI Pru Bluechip) can be a good fund to start your core portfolio. A basket made up of the top large-cap companies in the listed universe, active fund management that throws in a few mid-cap stocks for returns and a bit of derivatives to hedge the portfolio from market volatility have all worked in favour of this fund since its launch in May 2008.

Had you invested in the fund since its inception using the SIP mode, it would have delivered 15.7%, higher than the 9.5% return of its benchmark CNX Nifty.

But a point-to-point return would suggest that the fund lagged its benchmark by less than a percentage point. This is simply because the Nifty had fallen quite a bit by mid-2008, while the fund, just launched and starting off with cash, did not have such a low base to contend with.

Suitability
As stated earlier, the fund is suitable for those who wish to start an equity portfolio. But be prepared for a fall in your portfolio in a bear market as holding blue chips does not entirely insulate your portfolio from market fall. It may, at best, reduce the impact and possibly bounce back faster on a revival.

If you are a very conservative investor and want a tryst with equities without getting hurt, then balanced equity-oriented funds will be a better route.

Opt for the growth strategy and have a time frame of at least 3-5 years. Consider an SIP of not less than 3 years to average costs well. If you are building a long-term portfolio then have longer SIPs. If you become familiar with markets, buy this fund with a small lump sum (besides the regular running SIPs), in market corrections of 5-10%.

Performance
ICICI Pru Bluechip has an exemplary record of beating its benchmark 98% of the times on a rolling one-year return basis since its inception. But it is to be noted that the few instances of underperformances, occurred in 2012. As the quantum of under performance was less than a percentage point in all these instances, it does not cause any undue concern.

It is also worth noting that the sudden rally in the later half of 2012 may have caught the fund unaware, especially given that it uses a bit of derivatives. While the fund management did change hands in 2012 (from Prashant Kothari to Manish Gunwani), we do not see any fundamental change in the strategy or performance of the fund that warrants concern.

ICICI Pru Bluechip has a risk-adjusted return superior to older large-cap funds such as Franklin India Bluechip and HDFC Top 200 in the last three years.

That said, it has limited room to maneuver outside of the large-cap stocks. Hence, HDFC Top 200 may overtake the fund in rallies that are not very large-cap focused.

But to its credit, its returns do not deviate much from its mean and it also contains declines better than most other large-cap peers, thanks to its occasional use of derivatives, sometimes using the index futures and at other times more stock-specific futures for hedging purposes.

Portfolio
As is the case with most large-cap funds, the fund is heavy on banks. ICICI Pru Bluechip, in fact, increased its exposure to this sector over the last one year.

The usual large-cap performers, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI, besides Kotak Mahindra Bank together accounted for a fifth of the portfolio.

While IT sector was the second largest holding, FMCG stocks interestingly saw an increase in exposure in the space of a year, with United Spirits and Nestle coming in, even as Marico exited the portfolio, in the later part of 2012. Auto and auto ancillaries too were in the top 5 sector exposures.

Energy stocks such as Petronet LNG, Cairn India and PGCIL offer some balance in terms of 'value' exposure, against the otherwise 'growth-heavy' portfolio.

Happy Investing!!

We can help. Call 0 94 8300 8300 (India)

Leave your comment with mail ID and we will answer them

OR

You can write back to us at PrajnaCapital [at] Gmail [dot] Com

---------------------------------------------

Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds ( ELSS Mutual Funds ) to upto Rs 1 lakh and Save tax under Section 80C.

Invest Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

Tax Saving Mutual Funds Online

These links can be used to Purchase Mutual Funds Online that are regular also (Investment, non-tax saving)

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Application Forms from all AMCs

Download Tax Saving Mutual Fund Applications

These Application Forms can be used for buying regular mutual funds also

Some of the best Tax Saving Mutual Funds available ( ELSS Mutual Funds )

  1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan Invest Online
  2. HDFC TaxSaver Invest Online
  3. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund Invest Online
  4. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund Invest Online
  5. Birla Sun Life Tax Relief '96 Invest Online
  6. IDFC Tax Advantage (ELSS) Fund Invest Online
  7. SBI Magnum Tax Gain Scheme 1993 Invest Online
  8. Sundaram Tax Saver Invest Online
  9. Edelweiss ELSS Invest Online

------------------

Best Performing Mutual Funds

    1. Largecap Funds Invest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock Top 100 Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Focused Blue Chip Fund
      3. Birla Sun Life Front Line Equity Fund
    2. Large and Midcap Funds Invest Online
      1. ICICI Prudential Dynamic Plan
      2. HDFC Top 200 Fund
      3. UTI Dividend Yield Fund
    1. Mid and SmallCap Funds Invest Online
      1. Reliance Equity Opportunities Fund
      2. DSP BlackRock Small & Midcap Fund
      3. Sundaram Select Midcap
      4. IDFC Premier Equity Fund
    1. Small and MicroCap Funds Invest Online
      1. DSP BlackRock MicroCap Fund
    1. Sector Funds Invest Online
      1. Reliance Banking Fund
      2. Reliance Banking Fund
    1. Tax Saver MutualFunds Invest Online
      1. ICICI Prudential Tax Plan
      2. HDFC Taxsaver
      3. DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund
      4. Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund
    2. Gold Mutual Funds Invest Online
      1. Relaince Gold Savings Fund
      2. ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
      3. HDFC Gold Fund

Popular posts from this blog

Tata Mutual Fund

Being a part of the Tata group, the fund has the backing of a very trusted brand name with strong retail connect. While the current CEO has done an excellent job in leveraging the Tata brand name to AMC's advantage, it is ironic that this was just not capitalised on at the start. Incorporated in 1995, Tata Mutual Fund remained an 'also-ran' fund house for around eight years. Till March 2003, it had a little over Rs 1,000 crore in assets and 19 AMCs were ahead of it. But soon after that the equation changed. It was the fastest growing fund house in 2004 and 2005. During these two years, it aggressively launched six equity funds, two debt funds and one MIP. The fund house as of now stands at No. 8 in terms of asset size. This fund house has a lot to offer by way of choice. And, it also has a number of well performing schemes. Tata Pure Equity, Tata Equity PE and Tata Infrastructure are all good funds. It also has quite a few good debt funds. The funds of Tata AMC are known to...
Read more

UTI Mutual Fund

Even though only a few of UTI’s funds are great performers, this public sector fund house has many advantages that its rivals do not. It has a huge base of retail equity investors and a vast distribution network. As a business, it looks stronger than ever, especially in the aftermath of credit crunch. UTI is, by a large margin, the most profitable fund company in the country. This is not surprising, since managing equity funds is more profitable than debt. Its conservative approach and stable parentage is likely to make it look more attractive to investors in times to come. UTI’s big problem is the dragging performance that many of its equity funds suffer from. In recent times, the management has made a concerted effort to improve performance. However, these moves have coincided with a disastrous phase in the stock markets and that has made it impossible to judge whether the overhaul will eventually be a success. UTI’s top performers are a few index funds, some hybrid funds and its inf...
Read more

Salary planning Article

1. The salary (basic + DA) should be low. The rest should come by way of such allowances on which the employer pays FBT and you don't pay any tax thereon. 2. Interest paid on housing loan is deductible u/s 24 up to Rs 1.5 lakh (Rs 150,000) on self-occupied property and without any limit on a commercial or rented house. 3. The repayment of housing loan from specified sources is also deductible irrespective of whether the house is self-occupied or given on rent within the overall ceiling of Rs 1 lakh of Sec. 80C. 4. Where the accommodation provided to the employee is taken on lease by the employer, the perk value is the actual amount of lease rental or 20 per cent of the salary, whichever is lower. Understandably, if the house belongs to a family member who is at a low or nil tax zone the family benefits. Yes, the maximum benefit accrues when the rent is over 20 per cent of the salary. 5. A chauffeur driven motor car provided by the employer has no perk value. True, the company would...
Read more

8 Investing Strategy

The stock market ‘meltdown’ witnessed since the start of 2005 (notwithstanding the recent marginal recovery) has once again brought to the forefront an inherent weakness existent in our markets. This is the fact that FIIs, indisputably and almost entirely, dominate the Indian stock market sentiments and consequently the market movements. In this article, we make an attempt to list down a few points that would aid an investor in mitigating the risks and curtailing the losses during times of volatility as large investors (read FIIs) enter and exit stocks. Read on Manage greed/fear: This is an important point, which every investor must keep in mind owing to its great influencing ability in equity investment decisions. This point simply means that in a bull run - control the greed factor, which could entice you, the investor, to compromise with your investment principles. By this we mean that while an investor could get lured into investing in penny and small-cap stocks owing to their eye-...
Read more

Debt Funds - Check The Expiry Date

This time we give you an insight into something that most debt fund investors would be unaware of, the Average Portfolio Maturity. As we all know, debt funds invest in bonds and securities. These instruments mature over a certain period of time, which is called maturity. The maturity is the length of time till the principal amount is returned to the security-holder or bond-holder. A debt fund invests in a number of such instruments and each of these instruments would be having different maturity times. Hence, the fund calculates a weighted average maturity, which would give a fair idea of the fund's maturity period. For example, if a fund owns three bonds of 2-year (Rs 30,000), 3-year (Rs 10,000) and 5-year (Rs 20,000) maturities, its weighted average maturity would be 3.17 years. What is the big deal about average maturity then, you may ask. Well, knowing a fund's average maturity is important because it tells you how sensitive a fund is to the change in interest rates. It is ...
Read more
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Invest in Tax Saving Mutual Funds Download Any Applications
Transact Mutual Funds Online Invest Online
Buy Gold Mutual Funds Invest Now