ICICI Prudential Income Optimizer Fund (FOF) Direc...

About ICICI Prudential Income Optimizer Fund (FOF) Direct- IDCW
1. ICICI Prudential Income Optimizer Fund (FOF) - Direct Plan is Open-ended Conservative Hybrid Hybrid scheme which belongs to ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund House.
2. The fund was launched on Jan 01, 2013.

Investment objective & Benchmark
1. The investment objective of the fund is that " The scheme seeks to generate regular income by predominantly investing in debt oriented schemes. The Scheme will also invest in equity oriented & hybrid oriented schemes with an aim to generate capital appreciation. "
2. It is benchmarked against NIFTY 50 Hybrid Composite Debt 15:85 Conservative Index.

Asset Allocation & Portfolio Composition
1. The asset allocation of the fund comprises around 15.599451% in equities, 61.273655% in debts and 22.96506074% in cash & cash equivalents.
2. While the top 10 equity holdings constitute around 97.72% of the assets, the top 3 sectors constitute around 8.76% of the assets.
3. The fund largely follows a Growth oriented style of investing and invests across market capitalisations - around 0.0% in giant & large cap companies, 0.0% in mid cap and 0.0% in small cap companies.
4. 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.

Tax Implications on ICICI Prudential Income Optimizer Fund (FOF) Direct- IDCW
Hybrid funds which usually invest 65% or more in equity & equity-related instruments will be taxed like Equity funds and those which invest up to 35% in equity & equity-related instruments will be taxed like the new taxation structure of debt funds. Also, the hybrid funds which invest between 35-65% in equity & equity-related instruments will be taxed as per the old taxation structure of debt funds. Generally, tax implications are based on the average asset allocation of the last 12 months in which the fund has invested. However, since the market is dynamic, asset allocation towards equity may increase or decrease depending on the prevailing market & economic conditions. So, the tax treatment of the given fund will vary accordingly and will be determined by its asset allocation. Below are the tax implications from the equity as well as debt side:

For Hybrid funds with 65% and above allocation in equity & equity related instruments:
1. Gains are taxed at a rate of 15% (Short-term Capital Gain Tax - STCG) if units are redeemed within 1 year of investment.
2. For units redeemed after 1 year of investment, gains of up to Rs. 1 lakh accruing from those units in a financial year shall be exempted from tax.
3. Gains of more than Rs. 1 lakh will be taxed at a rate of 10% (Long-term Capital Gain Tax - LTCG).

For Hybrid funds with 35-65% allocation in equity & equity related instruments:
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.

For Hybrid funds with 0-35% allocation in equity & equity related instruments:

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.