Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund: Cash holdings and expense ratio falls

The popular Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund is a scheme that is closely followed by both investors and investing experts. The latest factsheet of the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund (PPFCF) has been published by the fund house.

The July factsheet shows that the fund is sitting on slightly lower cash levels compared to June. From 12.76% of AUM in June, the cash holdings have fallen to 12.57% in July. The cash position excludes the investment in debt and money market instruments, and arbitrage positions as well.

At June end, about 15.47% was in cash holdings, debt & money market instruments and arbitrage positions which could be deployed in long-term investments at appropriate levels. By July end, the cash holdings had fallen to about 14.80%.

The total AUM for the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund (PPFCF) has jumped from Rs 37,699.02 Crore in June end to Rs 39,848.26 Crore by July end.

The Net Asset Value (NAV) of PPFCF on July 31, 2023, for the Regular Plan was Rs 57.3226 while for the Direct Plan, it was Rs 61.6034. On June 30, 2023, the NAV of PPFCF for the Regular Plan was Rs 55.5252 while for the Direct Plan, it was Rs 59.632.

The month-end expense ratio of PPFCF has seen a fall. On July 31, 2023, the expense ratio of PPFCF for the Regular Plan is 1.48% and for Direct Plan it is 0.68%, which was 1.49% and 0.69% respectively on June 30, 2023.

PPFCF is a global flexi-cap mutual fund program that allows Indian investors to diversify their investments globally. The exposure to international businesses distinguishes the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund from other plans in its class. The PPFCF is an open-ended equity-oriented plan that invests in large, medium, and small-cap stocks both domestically and globally.

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund currently holds four international stocks rather than the five overseas corporations it previously held. The total allocation into international stocks stands at 17.84% of the total AUM of the fund, compared to 17.59% as of June 2023. As of July 2023, PPFCF has exposure to four foreign stocks – Microsoft Corporation (5.08%), Alphabet (5.12% ), Amazon (3.75%), and Meta Platforms (3.89%).

Back in June, the allocation to Axis Bank, HCL Tech, Infosys, CDSL saw an increase while allocation to ITC, Bajaj Holdings, ICICI Bank, IEX was reduced.

As of July 31, 2023, the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund has a 1-year return of 22.06% compared to the Nifty 500’s and the Nifty 50’s returns of 17.25% and 16.18%, respectively. The CAGR of PPFCF since commencement (May 24, 2013) is 18.69% as opposed to 13.85% for Nifty 50. The last 10-year return of PPFCF is almost 19.35%.