ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund-Growth

About ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund-Growth
1. ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund is Open-ended Gilt Debt scheme which belongs to ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund House.
2. The fund was launched on Aug 19, 1999.

Investment objective & Benchmark
1. The investment objective of the fund is that " The scheme seeks to generate steady and consistent return from a basket of government securities across various maturities through proactive fund management aimed at controlling Interest rate risk. The investment plan will invest in gilt including T-Bills with medium to long maturity, with average maturity of the portfolio normally not exceeding 8 years. "
2. It is benchmarked against CRISIL Dynamic Gilt Index.

Asset Allocation & Portfolio Composition
1. The portfolio allocation of debt securities primarily have 2 kinds of risks: interest rate risk & credit risk. While the interest rate movements are driven by the fund's duration, credit quality of debt securities are based on the weighted average credit ratings of a fund. Generally, funds with high credit quality will have the weighted average credit rating of AA- and higher rated securities, funds with medium credit quality will hold securities having credit rating lying between A- to BBB- and funds with low credit quality will hold securities having average credit rating of less than BBB-. Credit rating is a qualitative tool that basically assesses the creditworthiness and financial soundness of a company and takes into consideration several factors including the default rate and solvency of the concerned business entity.
2. The portfolio of the fund has securities with varying levels of maturities. Duration takes into consideration the sensitivity of the average maturity of these securities with respect to the interest rate changes. The Average Maturity of ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund is 7.24 years and Duration is 3.87 years. Generally, securities with high maturity are more sensitive to interest rate changes. So, an investor with a low risk appetite may look to invest in a fund with low maturity and duration vis-a-vis category levels.
3. All these parameters - average maturity, duration, interest rate changes, credit quality, credit rating, liquidity etc. need to be looked at in conjunction with each other to determine the quality of portfolio of a fund.

Tax Implications on ICICI Prudential Gilt Fund-Growth

Capital Gains Tax Implications:
If the investment is made after Apr 1, 2023:
1. The entire amount of gain will be added to the investor's income (irrespective of the period of investment) and will be taxed as per his/her applicable slab rate.

If the investment is made before Apr 1, 2023:
1. If units are redeemed within 3 years of investment, the whole gain will be added to the investor's income and taxed as per his/her applicable slab rate.
2. For units redeemed after 3 years of investment, gains will be taxed at a rate of 20% post-indexation benefits. Indexation is a process of recalculating the purchase price after accounting for inflation into it. The benefit of indexation lies in lowering one's capital gains which brings down the taxable income and thereby reduces taxes on it.

Dividend Tax Implications:
1. For Dividend Distribution Tax, the dividend income from this fund will get added to an investor’s income and taxed according to his/her respective tax slabs.
2. Also, for dividend income more than Rs 5,000 in a financial year; the fund house shall deduct a TDS of 10% on such income.