It is that time of the year when investments are made in tax-saving instruments to show proofs to the employer to avail of
Section 80C benefits under the Income Tax Act. The option having the least lock-in period of three years is equity linked savings schemes or ELSS. Among ELSS schemes, Axis Long Term Equity is one of the best performers in the category.
The scheme has scored well in providing superior returns, especially for longer-term holding periods. The scheme’s fund manager Jinesh Gopani has been managing the scheme for the past nine years. In terms of portfolio composition, Gopani’s focus is clear. He has invested close to 75% of the scheme’s portfolio in bluechips and large-sized companies. Close to 22% of the portfolio is invested in mid-sized companies. Gopani is highly invested in financials, services and automobile sectors.
This structure works well as it helps limit the downside to a certain extent as earnings in these sectors have been fairly stable. In the past five-year and 10-year periods, the scheme has given 10.5% and 17.5%, respectively. Its peers in the same periods have given average return of 7.8% and 10.5%, respectively. Investors can consider the scheme with an investment horizon of at least five years.
Portfolio change (past 6 months)
| New entrants |
Complete exits |
Increase in allocation |
| Bharti Airlel |
Larsen & Toubro |
Bandhan Bank |
| Eicher Motors |
Gruh Finance |
Nestle India |
| RBL Bank |
Varroc Engineering |
ICICI Bank |
| Period |
CAGR return |
ELSS average
CAGR return |
SIP CAGR
return |
| 1 year |
22.09 |
12.62 |
22.35 |
| 3 years |
17.00 |
10.66 |
13.76 |
| 5 years |
10.50 |
8.08 |
13.71 |
|
Fund |
Peers |
| Giant |
59.16 |
52.66 |
| Large |
16.80 |
14.56 |
| Mid |
22.41 |
24.99 |
| Small |
1.64 |
8.12 |
| Tiny |
- |
0.23 |
| Return since launch |
17.3 |
|
Expert Take
Kaustubh Belapurkar, director - fund research, Morningstar India
Jinesh Gopani runs this fund with a largecap bias. The scheme’ portfolio construction is largely bottom-up and benchmark-agnostic. Gopani is invested in high conviction ideas, which has resulted in a reasonably concentrated portfolio across sectors. This style has paid off handsomely over a market cycle, with the fund delivering significant outperformance.