The Balanced Advantage Fund offered by ICICI Prudential is a fund that allows investors to take advantage of both the equity and debt markets. It is meant for investors who are looking for returns in the long run and are ok with a higher risk profile. The fund has no entry loads and not exit loads either if investments are not withdrawn within a specific period. One of the advantages of this fund is that it can take advantage even of volatile markets.
Type or nature of fund
This is an open ended equity fund.
Investment objective
The objective of this fund is to create wealth over a long period of time through a balanced investment in equity markets as well as debt markets and money instruments. It also aims to do this by mitigating the risk from equity markets as much as possible by not sticking to a single strategy alone.
Fund information
Inception date | 30 December 2006 |
CRISIL rank | 4 as of June 2015 |
Plans | Regular and Direct |
Options | Growth and Dividend |
Schemes | •ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Direct Plan - Dividend •ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Direct Plan - Growth •ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Direct Plan - Monthly Dividend •ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Direct Plan - Quarterly Dividend •ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Regular Plan - Dividend •ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Regular Plan - Growth •ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Regular Plan - Monthly Dividend •ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Regular Plan - Quarterly Dividend |
Entry load | Nil but there may be an upfront fee payable by the investor in case the scheme is purchased via a certified distributor. The fee will be paid directly to the distributor. |
Exit load | 1% of the NAV If the units are redeemed or switched from one scheme to another within 18 months of allotment and the units are in excess of what is allowed. In other cases NIL |
Minimum investment | Rs. 5,000 with increments in multiples of Re. 1 |
SIP | •For monthly instalments the minimum amount is Rs. 1,000 with 5 post dated cheques for future investments. •For quarterly investments the minimum amount is Rs. 5,000 with 4 post dated cheques. |
Product label | •The risk factor of this fund is Moderately High. •It is aimed at those investors who are looking for long term investment in equity markets but with mitigated risks. |
Benchmark | CNX NIFTY Index CNX Nifty is the index that is calculated based on free floating market capitalisation weightage. It is also referred to as Nifty 50 or just Nifty and covers 22 different sectors. |
SWP | The minimum amount that can be withdrawn through an SWP is Rs. 500. |
STP | Available. The minimum amount that can be transferred is Rs. 1,000 and the maximum tenure for the STP is 10 years. |
Redemption | The minimum amount that can be redeemed is Rs. 500 and in multiples of thereof. Redemptions can be availed in the form of cheques which will be issued in 3 to 6 business days. |
Fund manager(s)
Manish Gunwani (Equity)
- Education: B.Tech from IIT Chennai and PGDM from IIM Banglore
- Past experience:
- Senior Fund Manager – ICICI Prudential AMC Ltd.
- Head-India operations - Vicisoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd
- Sr. Analyst - Lehman Brothers
- Head – Midcap Team - Brics Securities
- Analyst(portfolio management) - Lucky Securities
- Co-founder - Vicisoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd
- Research Analyst – SSKI
- Other funds managed
- ICICI Prudential Focused Bluechip Equity Fund
- ICICI Prudential R.I.G.H.T. (Rewards of Investing and Generation of Healthy Tax Savings) Fund
- ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund – Equity Portion
- ICICI Prudential Equity Savings Fund Series 1
- ICICI Prudential Growth Fund – Series 1
- ICICI Prudential Growth Fund – Series 3
- ICICI Prudential Growth Fund – Series 7
Ashwin Jain (Equity)
- Education: B.E and PGDM
- Past experience:
- Senior Analyst at Merill Lynch
- Research Analyst at Irevna (part of the Standards and Poor's Group)
- Software Engineer at HCL Technologies
- Other funds managed
- ICICI Prudential Growth Fund – Series 3
- ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund
Manish Banthia (Debt)
- Education: B.COM, CA and MBA
- Past experience:
- Aditya Birla Nuvo Ltd.
- Aditya Birla Management Corporation Ltd.
- Other funds managed
- ICICI Prudential Equity Arbitrage Fund - Debt Portion
- ICICI Prudential Short Term Plan
- ICICI Prudential Blended Plan A – Debt Portion
- ICICI Prudential Long Term Plan
- ICICI Prudential Gold Exchange Traded Fund
- ICICI Prudential Regular Gold Savings Fund
- ICICI Prudential Child Care Plan – Study Plan – Debt portion
- ICICI Prudential Child Care Plan – Gift Plan – Debt portion
- ICICI Prudential Monthly Income Plan – Debt Portion
- ICICI Prudential MIP 25 – Debt portion
- ICICI Prudential Income Opportunities Fund
- ICICI Prudential Income Plan
- ICICI Prudential Balanced Fund – Debt Portion
- ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund Investment Plan PF Option
- ICICI Prudential Equity Income Fund – Debt portion
Investment philosophy or strategy
The philosophy of the ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund is to invest in such a way as to provide returns that are not too volatile. This means that the returns are fairly steady which is achieved by investing in a mix of debt and equity market instruments. Equity investments in this fund are made to hedge against any bad spells in the debt markets.
Portfolio
Sector | Investment |
Equity Shares | 65.30% |
Debt Holdings | 34.83% |
CPs and CDs
•HDFC Ltd. ICRA A1+ 12.35% •Indiabulls Housing Finance Ltd. CRISIL A1+ 0.93% | 13.28% |
Government Securities | 12.65% |
Banks
•HDFC Bank Ltd. 5.34% •ICICI Bank Ltd. 3.08% •State Bank Of India 1.09% •Axis Bank Ltd. 0.78% •Union Bank Of India 0.44% •IndusInd Bank Ltd. 0.41% •DCB Bank Ltd. 0.24% •The Federal Bank Ltd. 0.21% •Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd. 0.20% •City Union Bank Ltd. 0.17% •Punjab National Bank 0.05% | 12.00% |
Software
•HCL Technologies Ltd. 2.37% •Tech Mahindra Ltd. 2.36% •Wipro Ltd. 1.76% •Infosys Ltd. 1.53% •Info Edge (India) Ltd. 0.66% •Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd. 0.48% | 9.15% |
Auto
•Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. 2.76% •Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. - Futures 0.14% •Tata Motors Ltd. 1.28% •Tata Motors Ltd. - Futures -0.23% •Hero Motocorp Ltd. 1.18% •Maruti Suzuki India Ltd. 0.64% | 5.86% |
Finance
•Bajaj Finserv Ltd. 1.80% •HDFC Ltd. 1.62% •HDFC Ltd. - Futures -0.24% •Max India Ltd. 1.10% •SKS Microfinance Ltd. 0.44% •Muthoot Finance Ltd. 0.36% •Sundaram Finance Ltd. 0.33% •Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd. 0.02% | 5.67% |
Pharmaceuticals
•Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. 1.61% •Divi's Laboratories Ltd. 1.25% •Cipla Ltd. 0.89% •Alembic Pharmaceuticals Ltd. 0.63% •Sanofi India Ltd. 0.45% •Lupin Ltd. 0.36% | 5.20% |
Consumer Non Durables
•ITC Ltd. 2.91% •ITC Ltd. - Futures -0.18% •Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health Care Ltd. 0.82% •United Spirits Ltd. 0.66% •Tata Global Beverages Ltd. 0.54% | 4.93% |
Risk measures
Sharpe ratio | 1.23 |
Alpha |   |
Portfolio beta | 0.85 |
Std deviation | 8.81% |
Performance
AUM | Rs. 6258.65 crores (As of 30 June, 2015) |
NAV (As of June 30, 2015) | •Regular Plan Growth Option: Rs. 25.58 •Regular Plan Dividend Option: Rs. 16.65 •Direct Plan Growth Option: Rs. 26.18 •Direct Plan Dividend Option: Rs. 19.01 |
Expense ratio | ;ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Direct Plan: 1.15 ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund - Regular Plan •First 100 crore - 2.5% •Next 300 crore - 2.25% •Net 300 crore - 2% •Balance - 1.75% •Max 30 bps on daily net asset on sales outside to 15 cities |
Returns
  | 2014-2015 (Absolute Returns) | 2013-2014 (Absolute Returns) | 2012-2013 (Absolute Returns) | Compound Annual Growth Rate (Since Inception) |
Scheme | 15.23% | 21.21% | 13.63% | 11.68% |
NIFTY | 9.95% | 30.28% | 10.67% | 9.18% |
NAV (in Rs.) | 22.2 | 16.92 | 14.89 | - |
The growth in this plan has been such that if someone had invested Rs. 10,000 at inception, their investment would now be valued at Rs. 25,580 as opposed to the value the benchmark would have provided, which would be Rs. 21,098.48.
Expert view of the fund
This is a fund that can take advantage of volatile markets. It keeps 65% for equity investments and invests in debt markets too. The investment strategy of this fund provides the returns that are slightly higher than what can be expected from debt markets but not as volatile as those provided by the equity markets. This fund also has outperformed its benchmark consistently and has investments in both large and mid cap stocks. Investments made in the debt market have also been concentrated more towards maturity period that were short or medium.
How to apply
To apply offline for this mutual fund, investors can visit any branch of ICICI Prudential. They will then be able to talk to the representatives and get any doubts answered. The representative will also be able to help them fill up and submit the forms and make payments towards the investments. These payments can be made by cheques and demand drafts. This mutual fund is also available with certified distributors.
To apply online for this mutual fund, all investors have to do is to visit the fund website and register as existing or new investors. Once that is done they will be able to invest in this fund online. Investments can be made through lump sum payments and SIPs and the payments can be done via NEFT/RTGS transfers and debit cards.
Display of any trademarks, tradenames, logos and other subject matters of intellectual property belong to their respective intellectual property owners. Display of such IP along with the related product information does not imply BankBazaar's partnership with the owner of the Intellectual Property or issuer/manufacturer of such products.
GST rate of 18% applicable for all financial services effective July 1, 2017.