There are certain inquisitive investors who would want to invest in both stocks and bonds. There is a fund called “Hybrid Funds” that provides this mixture. By investing in hybrid funds an investor gains a diversified portfolio meaning, with the help of one fund, the investor gets access to multiple asset classes. Let’s look at the various hybrid funds classified by SEBI.
Conservative Hybrid Fund
As the name suggests, these funds are for conservative investors who are willing to take low or moderate risk. These funds primarily invest in debts i.e. 75 – 90% of your investment corpus goes for debt securities. They also invest 10 – 25% in equity and equity related instruments. The top-performing conservative hybrid funds include:
- Aditya Birla Sun Life Savings Fund Growth
- UTI Savings Fund Growth
- ICICI Prudential Savings Fund Growth
Balanced Hybrid Fund
Most mutual fund investors advice newbies to begin with balanced hybrid funds. The advantage of investing in these funds is that they carry lower risk than the pure equity funds. They invest 40-60% of their total assets in a mixture of debt or equity & equity related instruments. One should be aware that these schemes do not invest in arbitrage. The top-performing balanced funds include:
(Funds Unrated)
Aggressive Hybrid Fund
These funds understand the investment objective and decide the proportions of debt and equity exposure. Unlike balanced hybrid funds, these funds take the advantage of arbitrage (buy low priced assets from one stock exchange and sell them in another stock exchange for a higher price). These funds allocate 65-80% of the investment corpus towards equity and 20-35% in debt. The top performing aggressive hybrid funds include:
- ICICI Prudential Equity & Debt Fund Growth
- SBI Equity Hybrid Fund Growth
- HDFC Hybrid Eq Growth
- Reliance Equity Hybrid Fund – Growth
- Aditya Birla Sun Life Equity Hybrid ’95 Fund Growth
- L&T Hybrid Equity Fund Growth
Dynamic Asset Allocation or Balanced Advantage
In these funds, fund managers invest in securities based on various metrics such as price-to-earnings (P/E), price-to-book(P/B) or dividend yields. These funds perform better than pure equity or hybrid funds as they show steady performance. The strategy is to manage assets dynamically by investing more in equity when valuations are low in the market and decrease it when valuations are not favourable. The top performing balanced advantage funds include:
- Invesco India Dynamic Equity Fund Growth
- ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund Growth
- Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund Growth
- IDFC Dynamic Equity Growth
Multi Asset Allocation
These funds invest in at least three different asset classes of 10% each. When you invest in multi-asset funds you can generate returns while managing risk and can target specific investment outcomes. These funds are managed dynamically and have the potential to adapt to the markets using enhanced capabilities. The top performing multi asset allocation funds include:
- ICICI Prudential Multi-Asset Fund Growth
- UTI Multi Asset Fund Growth
- SBI Multi Asset Allocation Fund Growth
- Axis Triple Advantage Growth
Arbitrage Fund
These funds take advantage of the price differences, where one buys and sells assets in various exchanges such as futures and cash market. They carry low risk than long term investments as the securities are bought and sold at the same time. They take advantage of market volatility and ensure profitable trades. These funds invest 65% of the total investment into equity and equity related instruments. The top performing arbitrage funds include:
- ICICI Prudential Equity Arbitrage Fund Retail Plan Growth
- Kotak Equity Arbitrage Fund Growth
- Reliance Arbitrage Fund – Growth
- Aditya Birla Sun Life Arbitrage Fund Growth
- IDFC Arbitrage Fund – Growth
- SBI Arbitrage Opportunities Fund Growth
Equity Savings
As per SEBI, Equity Savings are “open-ended scheme investing in equity, arbitrage and debt”. They offer low risk as they invest 65% of your investment corpus in arbitrage or hedged equity. These funds are recommended for investors who have low risk appetite and are looking for tax efficiency. The top performing equity savings funds include:
