Here’s an ELSS Mutual Fund that has stood the test of time. Want to know more about the fund and its portfolio? Read on.
Why wait for the eleventh hour? Aim to create wealth and save on taxes too. You can claim deductions of up to Rs. 1.5 lakhs by investing in ELSS Mutual Funds as per section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961. Tax-saver Mutual Funds have the lowest lock-in period and provide a higher return on investments.
If you haven’t invested enough to save taxes yet, consider ICICI Prudential Long Term Equity Fund. This is an ELSS fund that qualifies for deductions under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act.
Fund Strategy
The fund provides diversification by investing in companies across market capitalisations. Thus, the fund’s portfolio will constitute a blend of large, mid and small cap stocks. The fund while investing in stocks focuses on the fundamentals of the business, the industry structure, the quality of management, sensitivity to economic factors, the financial strength of the company and the key earnings drivers. The three-year lock-in-period in the ELSS category will help the fund manager to select stocks with a long term perspective as there may not be short-term redemption pressures, thus providing good opportunities to generate potential returns in the future.
Fund Management Team & Philosophy
Sankaran Naren and Harish Bihani are the fund managers of the scheme. They have been managing this scheme since November 2018. Mr George Heber Joseph has relinquished the fund management responsibility with effect from November 5, 2018. Despite the changes, the investment strategy largely stays the same.
Performance
The fund has experienced various bull and bear markets and beaten the benchmark index. It has performed well when compared to its peers and given positive returns even in this bear market.
The fund has beaten the benchmark by a strong margin over the long term.
| Period | Fund | Benchmark |
| Last 1 Year | -3.3 | -5.9 |
| Last 3 Years | 10.5 | 13.8 |
| Last 5 Years | 15.9 | 15.2 |
| Since Inception | 20.1 |
Date of inception: 19 August 1999. Returns for more than one year are on a compounded annualized basis and as on 31 Jan 2019. Past performance may or may not be sustained in future
Portfolio And Sector Allocation
The scheme seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing approximately 90 per cent of the investments in equity instruments, while the balance 10 per cent would be a parked in debt and money market instruments and cash.
This scheme is a well-diversified fund. The mid-cap and small-cap segment has corrected sharply over the past year and hence will help the portfolio. The average market cap of the fund is Rs. 72,388 crores.
Top 5 Holdings
| Company | % Of Assets |
| ITC | 7.0 |
| NTPC | 5.2 |
| Bharti Airtel | 4.6 |
| HDFC Bank | 4.5 |
| ONGC | 4.5 |
The closing AUM as on 31 Jan 2019 was Rs. 5546.52 Crore. Investments in the fund will have a lock-in of three years. Want to start saving taxes right away? Here are plenty of ELSS funds just for you!