Prudential ICICI's mutual funds come a lot cheaper now—the load on the AMC's equity funds has been reduced from 1.75 per cent to 1 per cent. Or has it? Actually, these funds have gotten cheaper only if you have more money to invest than most usually have. From a flat load of 1.75 per cent, the AMC has moved to a tiered structure where its funds have become a lot more expensive—from 1.75 per cent to 2.25 per cent—if your investment size is less than Rs 10 lakh. For investors who have invested between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 3 crore, the load stays at 1.75 per cent. And investments above Rs 3 crore fetch you a lower load.
This makes Prudential ICICI's diversified schemes— Prudential ICICI Growth and Prudential ICICI Power—the most expensive schemes in their category. Most diversified funds charge an entry load of 2 per cent and there are a few which even charge between 1.75 per cent and 1.9 per cent. Birla Sun Life charges the lowest load—just 1 per cent—on its equity schemes, making its diversified funds the most inexpensive in the category. Its technology fund, Birla IT, is the cheapest in its category where most others charge a 2 per cent load. Interestingly, UTI is one AMC which charges an entry load for some schemes and an exit load for others. In both cases, the load is usually 2 per cent.
Incidentally, Prudential ICICI's equity-oriented balanced funds are also much pricier than their peers. Prudential ICICI Child Care has an entry load of 2.5 per cent and Prudential ICICI Balanced has 2.25 per cent. In this category, only six of the 31 funds have a load of 2 per cent or more. Most funds charge between 1.5 per cent and 1.9 per cent.
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