InvestVerdict· Mutual Funds

ICICI Prudential Healthcare Fund

Direct Plan IDCW Sectoral / Thematic ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund Code 143876 ISIN INF109KC1GJ8

Fund basics

Launched16 Jul 2018 8.1 years of history
CategorySectoral / ThematicSEBI classification
Plan & optionDirect · IDCW code 143876
BenchmarkNifty 500 used for alpha & beta below
NAV as on26 Aug 2026source AMFI

Returns

No CAGR is shown for an IDCW scheme, and that is deliberate. Its NAV falls by every payout it makes, so a return computed from NAV alone understates it by exactly the amount distributed — and AMFI's daily file carries no payout history to add back. A wrong number wearing the right label is worse than an honest gap. The Growth option of this same fund is the one to compare on returns.

Direct vs Regular — 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
Direct (this page) 26.6400
Regular 23.4500

The two NAVs are 12.0% apart today. They started life at the same ₹10 — the whole of that gap is what the commission has taken out of the Regular plan since launch.

Everything the NAV says

Computed from 1,997 published NAVs between 16 Jul 2018 and 27 Aug 2026 — 8.1 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
ICICI Prudential Healthcare Fund Direct -6.16-2.984.51 2.5014.777.88 15.7112.98
Nifty 500 benchmark 1.702.710.73 3.9512.5111.37 15.46
Sectoral / Thematic category median · 131 funds 6.9716.9114.34 15.17

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 Direct 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 26 Aug 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
ICICI Prudential Healthcare Fund Direct 16.58 0.50 0.67 0.71 4.35 -27.68
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.

Risk

VolatilityDownside volatilitySharpeSortino
16.6%12.4%0.500.67

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
-27.7%10 months-8.6%
0%-10%-20%-31%2020202220242026
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
77.8%11.3%-19.6%29%
Worst-19.6%Median11.3%Best77.8%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

8.8%2021-15.3%202231.1%202338.4%2024-7.4%20252.5%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 ₹785,047 today, an XIRR of 10.70% 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

97.62%Equity
2.35%Cash & Equivalents
0.03%Debt

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 stocks39
Top 5 stocks40.40%
Top 10 stocks60.74%
Top 20 stocks81.65%
Largest single holding12.11%
Largest sectorPharmaceuticals & Biotechnology · 83.28%
Number of sectors7
Effective stocks19.9
Cash & equivalents2.35%

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

Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology — 83.3%Healthcare Services — 7.0%Retailing — 4.6%Other — 5.1%Pharmaceuticals & Biotech…83.3%Healthcare Services7.0%Retailing4.6%Other5.1%
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 60.7% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.

Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. 12.11%
Cipla Ltd. 9.23%
Mankind Pharma Ltd. 7.01%
Biocon Ltd. 6.08%
Dr. Reddy's Laboratories Ltd. 5.97%
Divi's Laboratories Ltd. 5.91%
Lupin Ltd. 4.09%
Alkem Laboratories Ltd. 3.52%
Syngene International Ltd. 3.52%
Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. 3.30%
Cohance Lifesciences Ltd. 3.18%
Medplus Health Services Ltd 2.73%

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 Direct Plan IDCW scheme against another of exactly the same kind.

Return window
Scheme Return Alpha Beta Volatility Sharpe Max fall
ICICI Prudential Healthcare Fund ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund · this scheme 14.8% 4.4% 0.71 16.6% 0.50 -27.7%
Aditya Birla Sun Life ESG Integration Strategy Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 5.4% -5.2% 0.98 15.2% -0.07 -26.5%
Aditya Birla Sun Life Infrastructure Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 14.1% -0.1% 1.22 19.0% 0.40 -61.3%
Aditya Birla Sun Life International Equity Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 18.6% 4.1% 0.36 65.3% 0.19 -73.9%
Aditya Birla Sun Life MNC Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 6.5% -5.8% 0.80 13.2% 0.00 -32.4%
Aditya Birla Sun Life Manufacturing Equity Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 15.3% -0.2% 0.89 16.6% 0.53 -49.2%
Aditya Birla Sun Life PSU Equity Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 15.7% 4.7% 1.06 21.9% 0.42 -33.8%
Aditya Birla Sun Life Pharma and Healthcare Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 14.7% 3.8% 0.64 16.3% 0.51 -29.0%
Aditya Birla Sun Life Quant Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 1.4% 1.06 14.9% -0.22 -23.0%

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 ICICI Prudential Healthcare Fund — Direct Plan — IDCW?

₹26.6400 as on 26 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 ICICI Prudential Healthcare 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 IDCW option mean?

An IDCW option pays part of the fund's gains out to you, and the NAV falls by exactly what it pays. It is not extra return — it is your own money returned, taxed at your slab rate. That also means a return computed from NAV alone understates an IDCW scheme, which is why no CAGR is shown here for it.

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.