In 2015, ABSL Mutual Fund launched a thematic fund, providing investors a way to play the emerging ‘manufacturing’ theme. Fast forward nine years and the investors who stayed the course find the thematic fund’s 12.5% return since inception lower than the broader market return for the respective period. Thematic new fund offers (NFOs) make a tantalising proposition—targeted exposure to specific themes. But do these funds truly perform? Statistically, funds like ABSL Manufacturing that didn’t do w ..
