ICICI Prudential Balanced Fund is A balanced scheme suits equity investors who are particularly concerned about insulating their portfolio from extreme volatility of stock markets. A balanced scheme gives investors the best of both the worlds -equity and debt. Among the balanced schemes, ICICI Pru Balanced Fund has been a distinguished performer.

Fund managers Sankaran Naren, Manish Banthia and Atul Patel manage the scheme. On the equity side, the scheme is known for its contrarian investment strategy. This is a key thing that distinguishes the scheme from other balanced funds. The fund managers are not interested in employing inconsistent stockselection strategy and show superior returns. The scheme has a good mix of large-sized established companies on the equity side. Prominent companies in sectors such as telecommunications, power and IT, which may seem out of favour at present, may see a turnaround in earnings cycle in the next two years are the ones which have attracted the attention of the fund managers. On the debt side, the scheme's portfolio consists of government securities and bonds with more than AA ratings, which provides reasonably good assurance to investors about the safety of their capital.

The scheme has been a top performer and has delivered 16-20% returns in the past threeand five-year periods, though its category of funds has given 14 and 16% returns during the same period.

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