It is generally believed that mutual funds are very safe and give a return of 12-15 percent annually in a radius. But the multi-asset fund category of mutual fund company ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund has given a return of 26 times to investors in 17 years, rejecting this claim. That is, if someone had invested one lakh rupees at the time of its founding, then it became 26 lakh rupees in 17 years.

According to the Economics data, if someone had lumped Rs 10 lakh in it 17 years ago, that amount has gone up to Rs 2.6 crore today while in the same period its amount has been just Rs 1.5 crore in its benchmark Nifty 50 index. ICICI Prudential has proved to be a better product in the multi asset category. The management of this fund, introduced on 31 October 2002, was led by noted fund manager S.K. Naren does. Since inception, the fund has given a CAGR rate of 21.32 per cent and investor confidence remains in it.

In fact, investors should have a strategic asset allocation mix, ie, a balanced, structured portfolio that performs better in different environments. The Multi Asset category invests 10–80 per cent in equities, 10–35 per cent in debt, 10–35 per cent in gold and gold ETFs, 0–10 per cent in writ and invites. Multi asset means investing in all assets. According to Arthaabha’s data, if someone had done a monthly SIP of Rs 10,000 in the multi asset of iPru since 2002, then this amount has increased to Rs 99.53 lakh while the investment amount has been just Rs 20.4 lakh.

The above returns are possible because the scheme has a multi-cap outlook on its equity investment. This means that equity allocation occurs in all market cycles i.e. large, mid and small cap are included based on the respective valuation. Also, the scheme invests in stocks and sectors that are not popular but outperform in the long term. The scheme has never given a negative return in a period of 5, 10 years.