Fund pick: Why UTI Flexi Cap Fund has consistent performance across periods

UTI Flexi Cap Fund, launched in May 1992, has featured in the top 30 percentile of the flexi-cap funds category of CRISIL Mutual Funds Ranking (CMFR) for 14 consecutive quarters through September 2021. The fund, managed by Ajay Tyagi since January 2016, has seen its month-end assets under management (AUM) grow to Rs 24,212 crore in October 2021, from Rs 8,345 crore in November 2018.

The investment objective of the fund is to generate long-term capital appreciation by investing predominantly in equity and equity-related securities of companies in a flexible manner across the market capitalisation spectrum.

Trailing returns

The fund has outperformed the benchmark Nifty 500 TRI and its peers (funds ranked under the flexi-cap funds category in September 2021 CMFR) in the past 1-, 2-, 3-, 5-, 7-, and 10-year trailing periods.

An investment of Rs 10,000 in the fund on August 1, 2005 (inception of growth plan) would have grown to Rs 123,541 on December 2, 2021, clocking an annualised return of 16.62 per cent. In comparison, the category and its benchmark would have increased to Rs 1.07 lakh (15.61 per cent per annum) and Rs 89,586 (14.35 per cent per annum), respectively.

Systematic investment plan is a disciplined mode of investing in mutual funds, through which one can invest a certain amount at regular intervals. A monthly investment of Rs 10,000 in the fund for 10 years through December 2, 2021, totalling Rs 12 lakh, would have grown to Rs 32.30 lakh (19.07 per cent annualised return), compared with Rs 27.83 lakh (16.27 per cent annualised return) in the benchmark.

Portfolio analysis

In the past three years, the fund took exposure across market capitalisation, with predominant allocation to large-cap stocks. Exposure to large-cap stocks averaged 63 per cent, while mid-cap and small-cap stock allocations averaged 27.09 per cent and 7.75 per cent, respectively.

The portfolio was diversified across 21 sectors in the past three years. Software had the highest average allocation of 16.71 per cent, followed by banks (16.50 per cent), finance (11.46 per cent), pharmaceuticals (10.8 per cent), and consumer non-durables (7.62 per cent). The fund took exposure to 76 stocks in the past three years and held 40 of these consistently. Bajaj Finance, Larsen & Toubro Infotech, Info Edge (India), HDFC Bank, and Infosys have been major contributors to its performance and were consistently held.