InvestVerdict· Mutual Funds

Franklin Asian Equity Fund

Regular Plan Growth Sectoral / Thematic Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund Code 106979 ISIN INF090I01AB3

Fund basics

Launched17 Jan 2008 18.6 years of history
CategorySectoral / ThematicSEBI classification
Plan & optionRegular · Growth code 106979
BenchmarkNifty 500 used for alpha & beta below
NAV as on27 Aug 2026source AMFI

Returns

Returns for this scheme are not computed yet — we need at least three years of published NAV. The NAV above is today's, straight from AMFI.

Regular vs Direct — same portfolio, two prices

The same fund, the same manager, the same shares. The only difference is the distributor commission inside the Regular plan's expense ratio — charged every year, on the whole balance.

PlanNAV1y3y5y
Regular (this page) 45.8158 44.70% 23.77% 9.65%
Direct 50.5827 45.97% 24.86% 10.62%

0.97 percentage points a year separate them over five years. On ₹1,00,000 left for ten years that is ₹274,370 against ₹251,239 — ₹23,131 for holding the same portfolio under a different label.

Everything the NAV says

Computed from 4,576 published NAVs between 17 Jan 2008 and 27 Aug 2026 — 18.6 years of history. Nothing here is an estimate; it is arithmetic on what the fund actually printed.

How it has moved

Return over time (%)

Fund name 1M3M6M1Y3Y5Y7Y10YSince launch
Franklin Asian Equity Fund Regular 8.021.4213.72 43.4623.449.03 11.4110.028.83
Nifty 500 benchmark 1.702.710.73 3.9512.5111.37 15.46
Sectoral / Thematic category median · 131 funds 5.6615.6212.90 13.92

Anything over a year is annualised (CAGR); shorter windows are absolute. The benchmark row is the index fund named below, priced daily by AMFI like every other scheme here. The category row is the median Regular plan in Sectoral / Thematic — the middle fund, not a ranking, and a median rather than an average so that one mis-stated scheme cannot move it. As on 27 Aug 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
Franklin Asian Equity Fund Regular 16.91 1.00 1.45 0.52 1.27 -42.78
Nifty 500 benchmark 17.17 0.35 0.47 -37.31

Risk measures use a risk-free rate of 6.5% and are stated so they can be checked — a ratio quoted without its risk-free rate cannot be. Beta and alpha need an index, so they are blank for the benchmark row itself.

Against its benchmark

Regressed on the 83 months this fund and Nifty 500 (via Motilal Oswal Nifty 500 Index Fund) both have. Alpha is Jensen's — the return left over after the market move this fund's own beta would predict.

AlphaBetaFund vs indexUp captureDown captureTracking errorInformation ratioTreynor
1.27%0.5226%-3.75%59%39%18.12%-0.2112.85

Up and down capture are the pair worth reading together: a fund that takes 95% of the rises but only 80% of the falls is doing something a headline CAGR will never show you.

Risk

VolatilityDownside volatilitySharpeSortino
16.9%11.7%1.001.45

Sharpe and Sortino use a risk-free rate of 6.5%, roughly the 10-year government bond. Both are stated so the figure can be checked — a ratio quoted without its risk-free rate cannot be.

The worst it has been

Deepest fallTime to recoverToday, from its peak
-42.8%11 months-1.7%
0%-14%-29%-43%201020122014201620182020202220242026
How far below its own record high the fund sat, on every single day it has existed. Flat along the top means it was making new highs; every dip is a stretch where somebody who bought at the wrong moment was down.

A drawdown is the fall from a previous high to the low that followed it. It is the number that decides whether somebody stays invested — a fund can have an excellent ten-year return and still have been unbearable to hold in year four.

Every one-year period it has lived through

Best yearMedian yearWorst yearLosing years
70.7%10.7%-33.3%25%
Worst-33.3%Median10.7%Best70.7%now
The full spread of one-year outcomes, with the fund's actual last twelve months marked. It answers the question a single number cannot: is right now an ordinary year for this fund, or an unusual one?

Rolling returns ask a fairer question than a single five-year figure: not "what did it do from this one start date", but "what happened across every start date". A fund whose worst year is −45% is a different proposition from one whose worst is −8%, even if the averages match.

Calendar years

-5.9%2021-14.5%20220.7%202314.4%202423.7%202528.9%2026
Each year on its own, January to December. Losing years hang below the line — averages hide them, and the years somebody actually had to sit through are the ones that decide whether they stayed.

If you had run a SIP

₹10,000 every month for five years — ₹600,000 invested in all — would be worth ₹974,470 today, an XIRR of 19.50% a year.

XIRR, not CAGR. A SIP's money arrives over sixty months, so most of it has been invested for far less than five years — which is why this figure normally sits below the five-year CAGR above in a rising market, and above it in a falling one. It is the return the investor got, not the return the fund got.

What it actually holds

The real portfolio the AMC filed with AMFI. Nothing here is estimated — when a fund has no filing in our store the section simply does not appear. A fund is its holdings; the returns above are only what those holdings did.

Asset allocation

47.10%Foreign Securities
44.12%Equity
8.78%Cash & Equivalents

A fund's risk starts here — how much of it is even in the market — before any question of which stocks or which sectors. Cash is not idleness; it is the manager's choice not to be invested, and it shows up as a drag in a rising market and a cushion in a falling one.

Portfolio aggregates

AMFI has not classified this scheme's holdings into large, mid and small cap in the filing we hold, so there is no split to show. The section is left here rather than hidden so it is clear the data is missing, not that the fund holds nothing.

Concentration

Number of stocks53
Top 5 stocks29.01%
Top 10 stocks39.98%
Top 20 stocks57.16%
Largest single holding9.51%
Largest sectorIT - Hardware · 29.70%
Number of sectors27
Effective stocks33.9
Cash & equivalents8.78%

Counting positions overstates diversification. The effective-stocks figure is the honest count: a portfolio can hold seventy names and still have most of its money in twenty.

Sector allocation

IT - Hardware — 29.7%Cash & Equivalents — 8.8%Banks — 7.5%IT - Software — 5.8%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology — 5.1%Retailing — 4.8%Auto Components — 4.3%Realty — 4.2%Other — 29.9%IT - Hardware29.7%Cash & Equivalents8.8%Banks7.5%IT - Software5.8%Pharmaceuticals & Biotech…5.1%Retailing4.8%Auto Components4.3%Realty4.2%Other29.9%
Where the equity money sits, by industry. The biggest few sectors decide most of what this fund does in any given year — a fund heavy in one sector is making a bet, whether or not its name says so.

Largest holdings

Top 10 are 46.7% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd 9.51%
Call, Cash & Other Assets 8.78%
Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd 7.52%
SK Hynix Inc 6.34%
ICICI Bank Ltd 3.18%
Yageo Corp 2.46%
Mediatek Inc 2.45%
Tencent Holdings Ltd 2.26%
Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd 2.15%
Oberoi Realty Ltd 2.07%
HDFC Bank Ltd 2.03%
Divi's Laboratories Ltd 1.93%

Disclosed holdings from the AMC's AMFI filing, largest first. A portfolio is filed monthly and shifts between filings — this is the most recent one loaded, not a live book.

How it compares with its closest peers

The same category, the same plan, the same option — the only comparison that means anything. A Sectoral / Thematic Regular Plan Growth scheme against another of exactly the same kind.

Return window
Scheme Return Alpha Beta Volatility Sharpe Max fall
Franklin Asian Equity Fund Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund · this scheme 23.4% 1.3% 0.52 16.9% 1.00 -42.8%
Aditya Birla Sun Life Pharma and Healthcare Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 21.3% 9.1% 0.64 14.9% 0.99 -21.4%
BANDHAN FINANCIAL SERVICES FUND Bandhan Mutual Fund 15.5% 3.3% 0.96 15.3% 0.59 -17.6%
BANDHAN INNOVATION FUND Bandhan Mutual Fund 16.7% 1.12 17.0% 0.86 -19.9%
BANDHAN Infrastructure Fund Bandhan Mutual Fund 16.3% 4.2% 1.21 18.5% 0.53 -58.0%
BANDHAN TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS FUND Bandhan Mutual Fund 21.0% 9.7% 1.00 14.6% 0.99 -25.5%
BANK OF INDIA MANUFACTURING & INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Bank of India Mutual Fund 22.6% 9.8% 0.95 17.1% 0.94 -47.4%
Bajaj Finserv Banking and Financial Services Fund Bajaj Finserv Mutual Fund 17.3% -15.7%
Bajaj Finserv Consumption Fund Bajaj Finserv Mutual Fund -7.1% 0.99 14.2% -0.71 -22.9%

Alpha and beta are against Nifty 500. Max fall is the deepest peak-to-trough drop in each fund's own history, so a longer-running fund has had more chances to record a bad one. Click a column to sort. This is a sort, not a ranking, and nothing here is a recommendation.

What a Sectoral / Thematic scheme is

At least 80% in one sector or theme.

The same concentration risk as any sector fund. Themes are usually launched after the theme has already run, which is why the average investor's return in these funds trails the funds' own published returns.

Who it suits. A small, deliberate satellite position — rarely a core holding.

How long money should stay. Through a full cycle.

Compare this scheme with others →

Questions people ask

What is the NAV of Franklin Asian Equity Fund — Regular Plan — Growth?

₹45.8158 as on 27 Aug 2026, from AMFI's daily NAV file. NAV is declared once each business day after markets close, so the figure here is the most recent one published.

What is the difference between the Direct and Regular plan of Franklin Asian Equity Fund?

They hold the identical portfolio, run by the same manager. A Regular plan pays a distributor commission out of the fund, inside its expense ratio — commonly 0.5% to 1.2% a year more than Direct. That difference is charged on the whole balance, every year, so it compounds: on ₹1,00,000 held ten years a gap of 1.5 percentage points is roughly ₹1.4 lakh of ending value. Direct is the same fund without the commission.

What does the Growth option mean?

Growth reinvests everything the fund earns back into the NAV. Nothing is paid out, so the NAV rises with returns and you are taxed only when you sell. For anybody who does not need income from the investment, Growth is the simpler and usually the more tax-efficient option.

What kind of scheme is this?

At least 80% in one sector or theme. The same concentration risk as any sector fund. Themes are usually launched after the theme has already run, which is why the average investor's return in these funds trails the funds' own published returns.

How long should money stay in it?

Typically Through a full cycle. A small, deliberate satellite position — rarely a core holding.