Scheme universe
ICICI-Prudential has in a total of 206 funds of which 29 are equity, 136 debt, 39 hybrid and 2 gold, giving it a considerable scale and diversity. It has two international funds—for one of oldest AMCs, especially one with a foreign partner, it launched an international fund rather late (in 2007). In response to the new rules, it has also launched several direct plans this year.
The fund management team is well supported by researchers and analysts. There are 10 equity fund managers and 3 debt fund managers, supported by a team of analysts, dealers and support staff. The team reports to the CIO, Sankaran Naren, who continues to manage or co-manage several schemes.
In recent years, the fund house has merged several schemes that have investment overlaps and also launched schemes that it lacked in its portfolio. Yet, there are still some categories where multiplicity rules. For instance, there are 4 mid- and small-cap funds, 11 large-cap funds and 4 large- and mid-cap funds. The debt portfolio has a full range of offerings that cater to both institutions and retail investors. Here again, there are some redundancies. For instance, there are 15 income funds. The AMC would do well to optimise its universe of schemes to a manageable size and make it simple in line with its motto of focusing on investor interest.
Its biggest fund is the liquid fund which manages assets worth Rs 16,229 crore. The biggest equity fund is ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip Equity with Rs 4,231 crore under management. There are also funds such as ICICI Prudential SPIcE, ICICI Prudential Advisor-Moderate and ICICI Prudential Nifty Junior Index which manage miniscule assets worth Rs 0.92 crore to Rs 7 crore. It would augur well for the AMC to consider merging some of these in investor interest and also improve operational efficiency.
The best and worst performers
The AMC has over 200 fund schemes with varied performance: some are best in the category while there are some that are mediocre. Across the equity fund category, the AMC has several high-rated funds with a proven track record and performance history. However, the same cannot be said of the debt fund offerings where the AMC has taken the middle-of-the-road approach. In some debt categories the fund has been amongst the worst performers, especially in the short- and ultra short-term category.
In the past one year, the best performing funds — the banking sector funds and the mid- and small-cap funds — have been in line with the market movement. And ICICI Prudential Discovery, ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip Equity Retail, ICICI Prudential Top 100 and ICICI Prudential Top 200 have all posted strong returns.
The historical sector allocation indicates a well-diversified approach with few instances when the allocation to a single sector has gone beyond 10 per cent. Finance, Energy and Technology have a strong presence, with allocation to Finance and Technology going beyond 20 per cent on some occasions.
This article was originally published on February 15, 2013.
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