InvestVerdict· Mutual Funds

ICICI Prudential Rural Opportunities Fund

Option Growth IDCW

Fund basics

Launched29 Jan 2025 1.6 years of history
CategorySectoral / ThematicSEBI classification
Plan & optionDirect · Growth code 153184
BenchmarkNifty 500 used for alpha & beta below
NAV as on27 Aug 2026source AMFI

Computed from 390 published NAVs between 29 Jan 2025 and 28 Aug 2026 — 1.6 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
ICICI Prudential Rural Opportunities Fund Direct -0.534.26-3.10 -0.18 7.67
Nifty 500 benchmark 0.874.312.15 5.2012.4911.41 15.49
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 27 Aug 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
ICICI Prudential Rural Opportunities Fund Direct 12.28 0.10 0.14 0.92 0.75 -14.37
Nifty 500 benchmark 17.16 0.35 0.47 -37.31

Risk-free rate 6.5%. Beta and alpha need an index, so the benchmark's own row leaves them blank.

Against its benchmark

Regressed on the 19 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
0.75%0.9289%0.61%91%84%5.69%0.112.44

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
12.3%8.6%0.100.14

Risk-free rate 6.5%, roughly the 10-year government bond.

The worst it has been

Deepest fallTime to recoverToday, from its peak
-14.4%-5.3%
0%-5%-11%-16%2026
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.

Calendar years

2026-4.7%

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

96.54%Equity
1.79%Debt
1.67%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

76.97%Large
11.62%Mid
7.95%Small
Large Cap 77.0%77.0%Mid Cap 11.6%11.6%Small Cap 8.0%8.0%Unclassified 1.8%Large Cap 77.0%Mid Cap 11.6%Small Cap 8.0%Unclassified 1.8%
AMFI's half-yearly ranking: 1–100 Large, 101–250 Mid, 251+ Small. The rest is debt, cash, foreign holdings or fund units, which AMFI does not rank.

Concentration

Number of stocks53
Top 5 stocks32.57%
Top 10 stocks52.36%
Top 20 stocks75.16%
Largest single holding10.01%
Largest sectorAutomobiles · 17.36%
Number of sectors18
Effective stocks25.7
Cash & equivalents1.67%

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

Automobiles — 17.4%Diversified Fmcg — 11.5%Banks — 11.3%Telecom - Services — 10.0%Insurance — 7.6%Finance — 5.9%Personal Products — 5.5%Consumer Durables — 5.4%Food Products — 4.9%Other — 20.6%Automobiles17.4%Diversified Fmcg11.5%Banks11.3%Telecom - Services10.0%Insurance7.6%Finance5.9%Personal Products5.5%Consumer Durables5.4%Food Products4.9%Other20.6%
Where the equity money sits, by industry.

Largest holdings

Top 10 are 52.4% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.

Bharti Airtel Ltd. 10.01%
Hindustan Unilever Ltd. 7.59%
Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd. 5.45%
State Bank Of India 4.90%
NTPC Ltd. 4.61%
Bajaj Auto Ltd. 4.46%
HDFC Bank Ltd. 4.42%
ITC Ltd. 3.89%
Ultratech Cement Ltd. 3.56%
Life Insurance Corporation of India 3.47%
TVS Motor Company Ltd. 3.12%
Nestle India Ltd. 2.94%

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 in its category

Against the Sectoral / Thematic Direct schemes with the highest three-year return. Same category, same plan — the only comparison that means anything. The list re-sorts itself as returns move; it is an ordering by one number, not a view on which fund anyone should hold.

Return window
Scheme Return Alpha Beta Volatility Sharpe Max fall
ICICI Prudential Rural Opportunities Fund ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund · this scheme 0.7% 0.92 12.3% 0.10 -14.4%
Nippon India Taiwan Equity Fund Nippon India Mutual Fund 59.7% 30.7% 0.49 32.3% 1.65 -44.8%
HDFC Defence Fund HDFC Mutual Fund 39.2% 30.7% 1.60 24.8% 1.32 -34.5%
LIC MF Infrastructure Fund LIC Mutual Fund 25.4% 8.3% 1.08 18.1% 1.05 -39.6%
ICICI PRUDENTIAL TRANSPORTATION AND LOGISTICS FUND ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund 25.5% 13.5% 1.01 15.7% 1.21 -23.6%
Franklin Asian Equity Fund Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund 24.5% 2.2% 0.52 15.4% 1.17 -40.2%
BANK OF INDIA MANUFACTURING & INFRASTRUCTURE FUND Bank of India Mutual Fund 24.3% 11.6% 0.95 17.0% 1.05 -43.5%
SBI PSU FUND SBI Mutual Fund 23.7% 6.9% 1.00 19.7% 0.87 -47.1%
SBI HEALTHCARE OPPORTUNITIES FUND SBI Mutual Fund 24.9% 15.6% 0.62 16.0% 1.15 -30.5%

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 Rural Opportunities Fund — Direct Plan — Growth?

₹11.2800 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 ICICI Prudential Rural Opportunities 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.