Before buying a mutual fund scheme, investors often weigh the pros and cons of a slew of factors. These include the reputation of the fund house, category it belongs to, fund manager’s past performance and importantly – the returns it delivered against the benchmark index returns.
A benchmark index is a standard against which the performance of a mutual fund can be measured.
Here we zero in on the top performing aggressive hybrid mutual funds that have outpaced the benchmark index returns. But before we proceed, let us understand what aggressive hybrid mutual funds are.
What are aggressive hybrid funds?
These are hybrid mutual funds which invest anywhere between 65 to 80 percent in equity & equity-related instruments, and 20 to 35 percent in debt instruments, according to the Sebi’s categorisation of mutual funds.
Aggressive hybrid funds refer to one of the six hybrid mutual fund categories where other categories include conservative hybrid, balanced hybrid, dynamic asset allocation, multi asset allocation, arbitrage and equity savings.
| Aggressive Hybrid Mutual Fund | 5-year-returns (%) | Benchmark returns (%) |
| Baroda BNP Paribas AHF | 13.76 | 12.30 |
| HDFC Hybrid Equity Fund | 13.02 | 12.05 |
| ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund | 16.61 | 12.30 |
| Kotak Equity Hybrid Fund | 14.19 | 12.05 |
| Quant Absolute Fund | 20.16 | 12.30 |
(Source: AMFI, as on Sep 13, 2023)
As we can see in the table above, the highest five-year returns (20.16%) were posted by Quant Absolute Fund whereas the other top-performing funds in the aggressive hybrid category delivered an annualised return of 13-17 percent in the past five years.
Here we shed light on the top performing aggressive hybrid funds:
1. Baroda BNP Paribas Aggressive Hybrid Fund: This scheme was launched on April 7, 2017. It has delivered an annualised return of 12.54 percent per annum since inception.
The key constituent stocks in the fund include HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, RIL, Treps 1 Aug, 2023 and L&T. The fund has an AUMs of ₹858 crore.
2. HDFC Hybrid Equity Fund: It was launched on Sept 11, 2000 and has delivered an annualised return of 15.51 percent since inception.
The scheme’s key constituent stocks include HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, ITC and Reliance Industries. The fund has an AUM of ₹21,313 crore.
3. ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund: This was launched on Nov 3, 1999. The fund has delivered an annualised return of 15.03 percent.
The key constituent stocks of the fund are NTPC, ICICI Bank, Bharti Airtel, Treps and ONGC. The fund has an AUMs of ₹26,162 crore.
4. Kotak Equity Hybrid Fund: It was launched on Nov 3, 2014 and has delivered an annualised return of 11.69 percent since its inception.
The key constituent stocks of the fund are HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and government bonds. The fund has an AUM of ₹4,270 crore.
5. Quant Absolute Fund: The fund was launched on Feb 19, 2001 and has given an annualised return of 13.61 percent. The key constituent stocks of the fund are HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Larsen & Toubro.
The fund has an AUM of ₹1,390 crore.
