ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund in 2026: size, costs, returns

The house in one number

ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund managed an average of ₹11,55,871 crore in July–September 2026, 13.25% of the industry's ₹87,21,848 crore. These are AMFI's quarterly average AUM figures, which leave out domestic fund-of-funds; its fund house page shows the same number.

It is the second-largest house, and the gap to SBI is closing. ICICI Prudential grew 13.91% in a year, a shade faster than the industry's 13.06%, and added ₹1,41,112 crore, more than any other house. The distance to SBI narrowed from ₹1,84,775 crore to ₹1,53,736 crore.

It was the largest house from January–March 2016 to July–September 2018. Its share has barely moved in ten years. The full league table is in the largest mutual fund houses by AUM.

The widest shelf in the industry

Counting each open-ended scheme once, by its Direct Growth plan, and leaving out ETFs and segregated portfolios, ICICI Prudential runs 109 schemes, more than any other house (Kotak Mahindra is next with 98):

It also runs 36 ETFs. Fund-of-funds are a real business here: they averaged ₹64,610 crore in the quarter, more than twice HDFC's ₹27,878 crore, the next largest. By scheme-level AUM, equity funds held 34.8% of the money in its schemes, hybrid funds 21.9%, debt 21.1% and ETFs 12.4%.

The biggest schemes

Average AUM for July–September 2026, all plans combined:

Its largest scheme is a multi-asset fund, 4.2 times the size of the next one in that category, and three of its top six are hybrids. It also runs the largest large-cap fund and the largest value fund, the latter almost four times the size of HSBC Value in second place.

How its equity funds compare

Each diversified equity fund's three-year annualised return, Direct Growth, to 9 October 2026, against the median of its SEBI category (only funds with three years of history are ranked):

Seven of ten were above their category's middle, the best record of the five largest houses; the typical fund was 0.66 points a year ahead. That matches our earlier scorecard of fund houses. Three of the seven were only just ahead, by under a point.

The last year is weaker. Only 2 of the 10 beat their category's one-year median: the Mid Cap fund (7.21% against 2.81%) and the Flexi Cap fund. The Value fund, the house's second-largest equity scheme, returned −7.99% over the year against a category median of −3.07%. The ICICI Prudential Focused vs Motilal Oswal Focused page sets the fund furthest ahead of its category beside a rival.

What it charges

On the expense ratios filed with AMFI between 30 September and 7 October 2026, ICICI Prudential's median direct plan charged 0.63%, a little under the industry's 0.68%. Its equity funds are another matter: their median was 1.22%, against 1.09% across the industry's 580 equity funds, the highest of the four largest houses.

The cheapest schemes were an income-plus-arbitrage fund-of-funds at 0.08% and ICICI Prudential Overnight at 0.09%. Among equity funds, the Dividend Yield fund was cheapest at 0.76%, then the Flexi Cap fund at 0.88%. The dearest was ICICI Prudential Children's Fund at 2.35%, then the Quant Fund at 2.06%. Since April 2026 the filed ratio includes brokerage and statutory levies; what a fund really costs explains the parts.

What its equity funds own

Across ICICI Prudential's 35 equity funds, from portfolios disclosed for 30 September 2026. Rupee values are each fund's weight times its July–September average assets, an estimate:

ICICI Bank, the bank in the house's own group, and HDFC Bank are level at about ₹23,200 crore each. HDFC Bank and Mahindra & Mahindra are the most widely held, each in 19 of the 35 funds. LIC is the unusual name: 14 of the funds held it.

Who runs the money

The scheme documents we hold, dated October and November 2025, name Sankaran Naren on the Value, India Opportunities and Multi Asset Allocation funds, which averaged ₹1,84,828 crore between them. Anish Tawakley is named on the Large Cap and Small Cap funds, Lalit Kumar on the Mid Cap fund and Rajat Chandak on the Flexi Cap fund. Manager line-ups change; see what to do when a fund manager changes.

What this does not tell you

• Seven of ten is three years of one market. Three of the seven are less than a point ahead, a margin one bad year can erase.
• Size is not a signal. The largest schemes are hybrids and a large-cap fund. Their size reflects what investors bought, not how the funds did against their peers.
• Costs are already in the returns. These are Direct-plan returns after expenses, so the higher equity ratios are already counted.

None of this is a recommendation of any fund or fund house. Use the screener to see current numbers for any ICICI Prudential scheme.