Axis Long Term Equity Fund Review

Taxes are like vaccinations – painful yet necessary. Though there cannot be any respite from the prickly needles, there are ways to save on your tax outflows. ELSS (Equity Linked Savings Scheme) are mutual funds that qualify for deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act. However, given the plethora of ELSS options available in the market, it can get difficult to identify the best one. Read on to know more about one of the most famous ELSS Funds - Axis Long Term Equity Fund.

Overview

Axis Long Term Equity Fund is a diversified ELSS. Being a multi-cap fund, it has the flexibility to allocate the corpus amongst large, mid and small cap stocks basis the market trends. Mr Jinesh Gopani has been managing the fund since 2011.

The fund usually invests in the top 200 companies. More than 90% of the corpus is invested in the biggest companies in the country from the large-cap and mid-cap category. With an AUM of over Rs. 18,000 crores, it is the biggest fund in the tax-saving mutual fund’s space.

Sectoral allocation

The fund leans strongly towards the financial sector with 41% of the corpus invested in there. The other prominent industries which comprise more than 1/3rd of the portfolio include services (11%), chemical, technology and automobile (8% each). These allocations keep on changing the basis the market fluctuations.

The stock selection revolves around businesses which are:

Innovative

Credible

Stable and scalable

Known for efficient capital management

Capable of generating free cash flows

Backed by a strong management team

Performance

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. And in case of a fund review, it lies in the performance statistics. Axis Long Term Equity Fund has generated consistent returns since its inception. It has clocked average returns of 16.4% per year during this tenure. In money terms, Rs. 10,000 invested in Dec 2009 would grow up to Rs. 42,000 in less than a decade.

The fund has also outperformed the category average in the 3-year and 5-year time period.

Axis Long Term Equity Fund

Category Average

5-Year Returns

>11%

7.62%

3-Year Returns

>9%

5.3%

Final Words

Axis Long Term Equity Fund scores on multiple parameters – diversified portfolio, focused strategy, handsome and consistent returns and solid downside protection. No wonder it features in the top-performing funds in the tax-saving category. This Axis tax saver fund is a must-buy for anyone who is on the lookout for tax savings and wealth appreciation.