ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company (IPAMC) catapulted equity weight in its ₹5,721-crore flagship “ICICI Pru Balanced Advantage Fund” to 68% on March 31, 2026 — the highest since April 2021.
Nimesh Shah, MD & CEO of IPAMC, told ET on Friday that “the allocation rebalancing started in mid-March once Nifty 50 slipped below 23,400,” tying the trigger to a 4.8% drawdown between March 10-20.
On March 31, Japan’s Nikkei 225 plunged 6.4% overnight, knocking Asian bourses lower by Tuesday. Shah said the fund used the dip to lift equity past historical averages. “We bought index futures at 22,985 levels allowing the AUM to rise to ₹5,721 crore by month-end,” he added.
The fund rules mandate a floor of 35% debt and a ceiling of 70% equity. On March 1, 2026 the equity portion stood at 48%, down from the same month in 2025 when it was 56%. In the trailing 12 months the fund delivered a 13.4% annualised return against the category average of 11.2%.
Retail investors rode the wave. SIP registrations climbed 18% month-on-month in March; fresh monthly SIPs touched ₹524 crore. SIP AUM now stands at ₹3,093 crore versus ₹2,762 crore on February 28, 2026.
Shah termed the surge “sticky domestic flows” unmoved by the US Federal Reserve’s hawkish dot plot on March 19. “Domestic institutions added ₹3,800 crore to balanced funds in March, highest single-month since October 2024,” he told reporters at a Mumbai briefing.
The 68% equity level means ₹3,890 crore is now committed to Nifty 50 stocks including Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, Infosys and ICICI Bank through direct holdings and index contracts. Debt exposure slid to ₹1,831 crore, mostly in AAA-rated papers maturing in 2028 and 2029.
Expense ratio dropped to 0.58% from 0.61% after IPAMC renegotiated custody fees with State Bank of India Custody Services in March.
The fund’s downside cushion is anchored by put options on Nifty January 26,000 strike bought on March 25 at ₹89.50 per unit, capping market risk to 7.5% per annum.
Meanwhile, quarterly portfolio turnover dropped to 142% in Q4FY26 from 217% in Q3FY26 after Shah’s team set a quarterly rebalance blackout between Jan-20 and Mar-31. “This lowers market impact cost,” he said.
Markets have since staged a pullback. Nifty closed at 23,842 on April 2, 2026. Shah expects the equity level to “hover between 65% and 70% over the next 30 days” unless breaches occur in global risk-off triggers.
Balanced Advantage Funds (BAFs) are gaining heft in Indian mutual funds. Overall BAF category AUM jumped 184% year-on-year to ₹3.18 lakh crore by March 31, 2026. ICICI Pru itself now manages four BAF schemes; ICICI Pru Balanced Advantage Fund holds 49% of the company’s total BAF AUM.
IPAMC is now the largest BAF manager in the country with ₹82,512 crore deployed, ahead of HDFC Mutual Fund’s ₹79,844 crore.
For income tax purposes, investors claim ₹1.5 lakh deduction under Section 80C via these funds, which are classified as equity-oriented hybrid funds with a six-month exit load if redeemed before August 2026.
Shah cited the budget allocation announced on February 1, 2026, as another tail-wind. “Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman extended mutual-fund linked retirement savings with ₹50,000 extra tax break,” he said. “We launched ICICI Pru Retirement Hybrid 40:20 on March 18 under that window.”
The hybrid product rode ₹198 crore in the first 10 days, giving IPAMC an early lead in the new retirement savings category.
Back to Balanced Advantage Fund, its direct plan raised another ₹472 crore since March 1. Retail investors using the AMC app route got a 10 bps rebate, bringing the unicorn-raising total direct-plan AUM to ₹1,921 crore.
