ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company has announced the launch of a new close-ended equity fund, predicting that markets would rise immediately after the elections and, in the longer run, a stable Government would push up GDP growth rates.

Similar trend Venkatesh Sanjeevi, Fund Manager, said the Sensex had risen 15-20 per cent a few days after the announcement of last Lok Sabha election results.

“We see a similar trend this time around. Last time, we also saw GDP picking up distinctly within one to two years after the elections. We did not want investors to miss out this time,” he said.

The firm’s research has shown that GDP growth rate had risen immediately in the first four quarters following the last four elections in India. On an average, GDP growth has risen from about 6.3 per cent levels to 7.6 per cent in the first quarter after the polls, 7.7 per cent in the third and 7.9 per cent in the fourth.

Similarly, foreign institutional inflows have risen from an average of over $300 million five months before the last four polls to over $800 million during the election months and about $750 million between six to 10 months after the polls.

Lock-in period The new fund, with a minimum lock-in period of three years, opened for subscription on Monday. The fund will invest in 20-25 large-cap companies from out of the 125 top names in this category on the exchanges. It would zero in on stocks that were temporarily going through a bad earnings phase, but promised higher returns in the long run.

The new fund is comparable to its Focussed Bluechip fund that has notched up a compounded annual growth rate of 13.44 per cent in the last five years, compared with 4.42 per cent rise in the Nifty Index.

“The new fund will have about 50 per cent of the companies in its folio common to that of the focused fund,” Sanjeevi said.

The earlier fund has companies such as Maruti, Tata Motors, HDFC, ICICI, Grasim, ITC, Nestle, Petronet, NMDC, ONGC, Reliance Industries, Dr Reddy’s and TCS in its folio.

>amitmitra@thehindu.co.in

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