ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund: Outrunning the herd, defying the ordinary

ICICI Prudential Bluechip Fund, launched in May 2008, has consistently ranked in the top 30 percentile of the largecap fund category in CRISIL Mutual Fund Ranking (CMFR) for four consecutive quarters through September 2024.

 

The fund’s assets under management rose to Rs 66,207 crore as of September 2024, up from Rs 30,724 crore in September 2021.

 

Anish Tawakley and Vaibhav Dusad have been steering the fund since 2018 and 2021, respectively.

 

The fund aims to achieve long-term capital appreciation and income distribution by investing primarily in equity and equity-related securities of largecap companies. 

 

Trailing returns

 

The fund outperformed its benchmark, the Nifty 100 TRI, across six-month, one-year, two-year, three-year, five-year, seven-year, and 10-year trailing periods. It also outperformed peers within the largecap fund category (ranked in CMFR as of September 2024) during these time frames.

 

An investment of Rs 10,000 made at the fund’s inception on May 23, 2008, would have grown to Rs 83,539 (annualised return of 13.65 per cent) by December 19, 2024. Comparatively, the same investment in the category and benchmark would have grown to Rs 63,595 (11.8 per cent) and Rs 64,306 (11.87 per cent), respectively.

 

A systematic investment plan (SIP) is a disciplined approach to investing that allows for fixed contributions at regular intervals. A monthly SIP of Rs 10,000 in the fund over the past 10 years, totalling Rs 12 lakh, would have grown to Rs 28.56 lakh (16.61 per cent annualised return) as of December 19, 2024. In contrast, the same SIP in the benchmark would have grown to Rs 26.41 lakh (15.15 per cent annualised return).

 

Portfolio analysis

 

Over the past three years, the fund primarily focused on largecap stocks, which averaged 82.71 per cent of the portfolio. Midcap and smallcap allocations averaged 7.97 per cent and 0.6 per cent, respectively, while non-equity assets formed the remaining 8.72 per cent. For comparison, the category average investments were 86 per cent in largecap, 7.79 per cent in midcap, and 2.52 per cent in smallcap stocks. The fund’s exposure to smallcaps was notably lower than its peers.

 

The portfolio spanned 17 sectors, with financial services leading at an average allocation of 28.68 per cent, followed by oil, gas, and consumable fuels (10.72 per cent), information technology (10.25 per cent), automotive and auto components (8.81 per cent), and construction (6.4 per cent).

 

During the review period, the fund invested in 103 stocks, consistently holding 36 of them. Key contributors to the portfolio included Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Industries.