Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund hikes stakes in HCL Tech, Coal India and 9 other stocks in July. Check full list

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund, the largest active and flexi-cap fund by assets under management (AUM), increased its stake in HCL Technologies, Coal India and nine other stocks in July, according to the monthly portfolio disclosure by PPFAS Mutual Fund.

The fund added 5.76 lakh shares of HCL Tech, taking its holding to 4.66 crore shares in July from 4.60 crore shares in the previous month. It also added 10.27 lakh shares of Coal India, increasing its holding to 17.58 crore shares from 17.48 crore shares in June.

Among the other nine stocks where the fund raised its stake, Indraprastha Gas saw the largest addition in terms of shares. The fund bought 1.06 crore shares of the company, taking its holding to 10.54 crore shares in July from 9.48 crore shares in June.


Also Read |Nifty Smallcap 250 hits 52-week high. Should smallcap mutual fund investors continue SIPs or book profits?

The flexi-cap fund added 51.57 lakh shares of Petronet LNG and 8.45 lakh shares of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories in July. Other stocks where it increased its stake included Bajaj Holdings & Investment, CIE Automotive India, EID Parry, Mahanagar Gas, Maharashtra Scooters and Maruti Suzuki India.

The fund did not reduce its stake in any stock or make a complete exit from any holding during the month. It also did not add any new stocks to its portfolio.

Holdings in 22 stocks remained unchanged. These included Axis Bank, Bharti Airtel, CDSL, Cipla, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, ICRA, Indian Energy Exchange, Indus Towers, Infosys, ITC, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Narayana Hrudayalaya, Nesco, Power Grid Corporation of India, Swaraj Engines, TCS, Zydus Lifesciences, Zydus Wellness and The Great Eastern Shipping Company.

The number of stocks in the portfolio remained unchanged in July from the previous month. Launched on May 24, 2013, the fund had assets under management of Rs 1.49 lakh crore as of July 31, 2026.

The fund aims to generate long-term capital growth through an actively managed portfolio primarily comprising equity and equity-related securities. It can invest in Indian and foreign equities and related instruments, as well as debt securities.

The fund is benchmarked against the Nifty 500 TRI and is managed by Rajeev Thakkar, Raunak Onkar, Raj Mehta, Rukun Tarachandani, Tejas Soman, Mansi Kariya and Aishwarya Dhar.

The fund had its highest sector allocation in banks at around 19.97%, followed by IT-Software at 10.30% and computer software at 8.64%.

In its monthly factsheet, the fund house said it continues to evaluate investments on their individual merits and would invest when it finds an attractive opportunity. It added that its investment approach is not driven by the macroeconomic environment but remains focused on individual companies.

The fund house also said it had around 14.74% of the portfolio in cash holdings, debt and money-market instruments, and arbitrage positions, which could be deployed into long-term investments at appropriate levels.

In a note to unitholders, Rajeev Thakkar, CIO and director of PPFAS Mutual Fund, said the recent underperformance of Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund was “not noteworthy” in terms of its duration or magnitude.

Thakkar also pushed back against concerns that the fund had failed to deliver returns comparable with bank fixed deposits. He said investors seeking guaranteed, FD-like returns should opt for fixed deposits, while equity investments inherently involve volatility. According to him, this volatility also gives equities the potential to generate higher returns over the long term.

He added that the market’s current rangebound phase was neither unusual in duration nor significant in terms of the extent of the correction.

Also Read | Parag Parikh Flexi Cap current underperformance not noteworthy; cash at 14-15%, HDFC Bank outlook unchanged: Rajeev Thakkar

On the fund’s recent underperformance, Thakkar said PPFAS schemes have delivered satisfactory relative performance over a full market cycle, while acknowledging that portfolio stocks can underperform or decline over shorter periods of three months, one year or longer.

He attributed the recent underperformance partly to PPFAS Mutual Fund’s strategy of investing in stocks and sectors that may be out of favour with the broader market. Thakkar said the fund’s current underperformance is neither noteworthy in terms of duration nor magnitude, and rejected the view that it is primarily a result of the scheme’s large AUM.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

(If you have any mutual fund queries, message ET Mutual Funds on Facebook or X. We will get them answered by our panel of experts. You can also send your questions to ETMFqueries@timesinternet.in, along with your age, risk profile and X handle)