Superior and 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 ~24,212 crore in October 2021, from ~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 ~10,000 in the fund on August 1, 2005 (inception of growth plan) would have grown to ~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 ~1.07 lakh (15.61 per cent per annum) and ~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 ~10,000 in the fund for 10 years through December 2, 2021, totalling ~12 lakh, would have grown to ~32.30 lakh (19.07 per cent annualised return), compared with ~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 largecap stocks. Exposure to large-cap stocks averaged 63 per cent, while midcap 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.