20 stocks held by both Parag Parikh & HDFC's flexi-cap funds

Summary: Parag Parikh and HDFC run India’s largest flexi-cap funds, managing over Rs 2 lakh crore between them. Surprisingly, nearly 60 per cent of HDFC’s portfolio mirrors Parag Parikh’s top holdings. Is this convergence coincidence or conviction? We break down the 20 stocks they both own and what that means for your investments.

If mutual funds were celebrities, Parag Parikh Flexi Cap and HDFC Flexi Cap would be the Shah Rukh Khan and Salman Khan of the investing world. Both giants, both loved by the public, and both commanding loyal fan bases.

Together, these two flexi-cap funds manage assets worth over Rs 2 lakh crore. As of September 30, 2025, Parag Parikh Flexi Cap leads the chart with net assets of about Rs 1.19 lakh crore, while HDFC Flexi Cap follows close behind at a little over Rs 85,000 crore.

But here’s an interesting question: When India’s two most popular active equity funds invest crores of rupees, how different, or similar, are their portfolios?

Let’s find out.

20 stocks both funds own

It turns out, Parag Parikh Flexi Cap and HDFC Flexi Cap share ownership of 20 listed companies.

Here’s the full list (in alphabetical order):

• Axis Bank
• Bank of Baroda
• Bharti Airtel
• Cipla
• Eicher Motors
• HCL Technologies
• HDFC Bank
• Hindalco Industries
• ICICI Bank
• Infosys
• JSW Steel
• Kotak Mahindra Bank
• Larsen & Toubro
• Lupin
• Maruti Suzuki
• ONGC
• Power Grid Corporation of India
• Tata Consultancy Services
• Tata Steel
• United Spirits

Private banks are the clear favourites

The top five common holdings reveal a clear trend. Private banks dominate this list.

This isn’t surprising. For quite a few years now, the “Big Four” private banks—HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank—have been the go-to favourites for many fund houses.

The only outlier on this list is Power Grid Corporation of India, a PSU that has found a place in both portfolios, thanks to India’s growing energy needs. Interestingly, another non-finance stock, Maruti Suzuki, comes close behind as the sixth-most common stock, showing that both funds like a healthy dose of India’s manufacturing and consumption story.

How much do these funds overlap?

Here’s where things get even more interesting.

Despite holding many of the same stocks, the degree of similarity between the two funds isn’t equal. In fact, HDFC Flexi Cap’s portfolio overlaps nearly 60 per cent with Parag Parikh’s scheme, while Parag Parikh Flexi Cap’s overlap with HDFC’s portfolio is less than 40 per cent.

Why does that happen? One of the reasons is that Parag Parikh Flexi Cap has a very distinctive global allocation. It invests a sizable portion of its portfolio in international stocks such as Alphabet (Google), Meta and Amazon. This naturally lowers its overlap with purely domestic funds like HDFC Flexi Cap.

On the other hand, HDFC Flexi Cap’s focus is almost entirely Indian, which means most of its major domestic bets (banks, IT, auto, infra) mirror what Parag Parikh holds in its India portion. Hence, the higher overlap from HDFC’s side.

A quick recap

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap and HDFC Flexi Cap clearly share faith in some of India’s most reliable businesses.

And if you want to know how to balance exposure across categories, Value Research Fund Advisor can help you find that perfect mix. It not only recommends funds that will suit you best, but also builds a goal-based portfolio strategy tailored to your time horizon and risk appetite.

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Also read: How many small-cap funds should you invest in?