Edelweiss Aggressive Hybrid Fund: Trailblazer in performance, asset growth

Edelweiss Aggressive Hybrid Fund, launched in August 2009, has consistently ranked in the top 30 percentile of the aggressive hybrid fund category in the CRISIL Mutual Fund Ranking (CMFR) for three consecutive quarters through December 2023.
 

The fund’s month-end assets under management increased from Rs 20 crore in December 2020 to Rs 1,064 crore in December 2023, at an annualised rate of 274.3 per cent versus the category’s 15.9 per cent.
 

Bharat Lahoti, Bhavesh Jain, and Dhawal Dalal have been managing this fund since October 2021, October 2015, and November 2021.
 

The fund aims to provide capital growth and current income through a portfolio invested predominantly in equities, with a balance in debt and money market securities.
 

Trailing returns 
 

The fund has consistently outperformed the benchmark (CRISIL Hybrid 35+65 — Aggressive Index) and its peers (funds ranked under the aggressive hybrid fund category in December 2023 CMFR) in all the trailing periods under analysis.
 

To put this in perspective, an investment of Rs 10,000 in the fund on February 21, 2014, would have grown to Rs 40,377 on February 22, 2024, at an annualised rate of 14.96 per cent. In contrast, the same investment in the category and benchmark would have grown to Rs 38,480 (14.41 per cent) and Rs 37,354 (14.07 per cent), respectively.

 

A systematic investment plan is a disciplined mode of investment offered by mutual funds through which one can invest a certain amount at regular intervals.
 

A monthly investment of Rs 10,000 for the past 10 years in the fund, totalling Rs 12 lakh, would have grown to Rs 25.76 lakh (14.66 per cent annualised return), compared to Rs 24.26 lakh (13.54 per cent) in the benchmark as of February 22, 2024.
 

Portfolio analysis
 

Over the past three years, the fund’s asset mix has comprised an average allocation of 69.79 per cent to equity and 30.21 per cent to debt. The equity portfolio was diversified across market capitalisations, with a predominant exposure to largecap stocks. Allocation to largecap stocks averaged 52.91 per cent, while allocation to midcap and smallcap stocks averaged 11.97 per cent and 4.92 per cent, respectively. The equity portfolio was diversified across 20 sectors. Financial services had the highest average allocation of 22.19 per cent, followed by information technology (8.49 per cent), oil, gas and consumable fuels (6.97 per cent), fast-moving consumer goods (6.55 per cent), and healthcare (4.63 per cent). The fund’s debt portfolio primarily consisted of sovereign securities. Allocation to sovereign paper averaged 7.59 per cent. Exposure to AAA/A1+-rated securities averaged 3.27 per cent, while the fund had no allocation to sub-AAA-rated securities.