PGIM India Mutual Fund Launches Healthcare Fund

The New Fund Offer (NFO) opens for subscription on 19 November 2024 and will close on 3 December 2024.

PGIM India Mutual Fund has launched the PGIM India Healthcare Fund, an open-ended equity scheme that will invest primarily in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.

The New Fund Offer (NFO) opens for subscription on 19 November 2024 and will close on 3 December 2024. The scheme will reopen for continuous sale and repurchase on 11 December 2024.

Ajit Menon, CEO of PGIM India Asset Management, emphasized the opportunity the fund presents for investors to capitalize on India’s rapidly growing healthcare sector. He stated, “PGIM India Healthcare Fund provides a compelling opportunity for investors to capitalize on India’s burgeoning healthcare sector, which benefits from low costs, innovation, rising awareness for health insurance, growing foreign direct investment, and expanding medical tourism.”

Investment Focus and Allocation

The PGIM India Healthcare Fund aims to invest at least 80% of its assets in healthcare and pharmaceutical companies' equity and equity-related securities. The remaining portion will be allocated to other equities, debt, money market instruments, REITs & InvITs, and foreign securities, including overseas ETFs.

The portfolio will focus on diverse areas within the healthcare sector, including healthcare services such as pharmacies, diagnostics, hospitals, health insurance, and healthcare manufacturing, which includes medical devices, CRAMS (Contract Research and Manufacturing Services), and APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients).

Vinay Paharia, CIO of PGIM India Asset Management, added, “We expect the healthcare sector to be a structural beneficiary of the India growth story. The sector is likely to witness multiple tailwinds like stable and growing domestic demand, strong pricing power, superior export potential due to India's competitive advantage, and the China +1 strategy being pursued by global pharma."

Management and Strategy

The scheme will be managed by Anandha Padmanabhan Anjeneyan, Vivek Sharma, and Utsav Mehta for the equity portion, while Puneet Pal will manage the debt portion. The fund will use a combination of top-down and bottom-up investment strategies, focusing on stock fundamentals, including the quality of management.