Here’s how Prashant Jain's HDFC MF schemes performed vs peers

One of the longest serving fund managers, Prashant Jain, the CIO of HDFC Mutual Fund, has decided to move on after 19 years, and tendered his resignation on last Friday. As the CIO, Jain was overseeing a corpus over ₹4 lakh crore and was directly responsible for managing ₹89,500 crore. He has been managing HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund (earlier HDFC Prudence Fund), country’s largest scheme in the category, holding assets to the tune of ₹43,078 crore since its beginning in February 1994. He was directly managing HDFC Top 100 (AUM ₹19,910 crore), and HDFC Flexi Cap (₹26,511 crore) schemes as well since June 2003.

HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund has generated 17.88% CAGR returns since the time Jain started managing the scheme. Similarly other schemes — HDFC Top 100 and HDFC Flexi Cap Fund — have grown by 19.65% and 20.76% under the veteran fund manager’s stint on a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) basis.

Here’s a look at how the schemes managed by one of the most sought after fund managers have performed vis-à-vis their peers since the inception of the funds.

A B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur, PGDM from IIM, Bangalore, and CFA from AIMR, USA, Prashant Jain, prior to joining HDFC AMC, has worked with Zurich AMC and SBI Mutual Fund. Zurich MF was then taken over by HDFC Mutual Fund in 2003.

In the meanwhile, the HDFC AMC board, on the recommendation of its Nomination and Remuneration Committee, in the meeting held on July 22, has approved the appointment of Chirag Setalvad as head–equities, and Shobhit Mehrotra as head–fixed income. Both Setalvad and Mehrotra will report to Navneet Munot, managing director and CEO of the company, the AMC said in a note.

Setalvad has been part of the HDFC AMC investment team since inception, except for a brief 2.5-year stint outside starting October 2004, joined back again in March 2007, while Mehrotra has been with the company for over 18 years.

Setalvad is a B.Sc and MBA from University of North Carolina. He has worked with New Vernon Advisory Services and ING Barings N.V. as well in the past.

Mehrotra is an MBA from Clemson University, USA. Prior to joining HDFC AMC, he has worked with Franklin Templeton AMC and ICRA.

“Both Setalvad and Mehrotra are capable investment professionals, ready to take up the mantle of heading the equities and fixed income function and are well supported by a highly experienced and committed team of investment professionals,” says the AMC note.