ICICI & SBI launch Nifty 200 Quality 30 funds: Worth It?

ICICI's fund opened for public subscription on May 21, 2025, and will remain open until June 4, 2025, while SBI's offering hit the market earlier — on May 16 — and will close on May 29, 2025. Interestingly, both the fund houses already offer ETFs (exchange-traded funds) based on this index. However, the launch of these index funds now makes them accessible to a wider set of investors, especially those without a demat account or those looking to invest via SIPs . NFO Snapshot NFO period ICICI Prudential Nifty 200 Quality 30 index fund - May 21 to June 4, 2025 SBI Nifty 200 Quality 30 index fund - May 16 to May 29, 2025 Benchmark Nifty 200 Quality 30 Fund manager(s) ICICI Pru: Nishit Patel and Ashwini Shinde SBI: Viral Chhadva Exit load ICICI Prudential: Nil SBI: 0.25 per cent for exit before 15 days  Tax treatment If units are sold within a year, capital gains will be taxed at 20 per cent. If units are sold after a year, capital gains will be taxed at 12.5 per cent. However, gains of up to Rs 1.25 lakh are tax-exempt. Since both funds passively track the Nifty 200 Quality 30 index, let's shift our focus to the index and see what it is and how it has performed. About the index How are the stocks selected? The Nifty 200 Quality 30 index picks the top 30 companies from the broader Nifty 200 based on their 'quality' scores. These scores are calculated using three key factors: Return on equity (ROE) Financial leverage (Debt-to-equity ratio) Earnings stability, measured by the variability in EPS growth over the past five years. After ranking companies based on these quality scores, the index gives more weight to companies with better scores and larger sizes (based on market value). However, to avoid overdependence on any single stock, no company has more than 5 per cent weight in the index. The index is rebalanced semi-annually, once in June and again in December. Other funds or ETFs tracking this index Currently, there are two index funds and three ETFs tracking Nifty 200 Quality 30 index. The table below mentions these funds/ETFs. Funds/ETFs tracking the Nifty 200 Quality 30 index Fund/ETF Launch date Expense ratio (%) One-year tracking error (%) Return since launch (%) Index return since launch of fund/ETF (%) AUM (in Rs cr) Aditya Birla Sun Life Nifty 200 Quality 30 ETF August 12, 2022 0.29 0.09 13.7 15.6 31 Bandhan Nifty 200 Quality 30 Index Fund December 4, 2024 0.32 - -4.4 -1.9 10 ICICI Prudential Nifty 200 Quality 30 ETF August 7, 2023 0.30 0.05 15.8 17.9 176 SBI Nifty 200 Quality 30 ETF December 10, 2018 0.50 0.07 13.8 16.4 125 UTI Nifty200 Quality 30 Index Fund September 20, 2024 0.44 -11.4 -8.3 581