The ICICI Pru Multi-asset FoF invests in domestic equities and debt, foreign equities and gold. However, SEBI stipulates that a multi-asset FoF cannot mix foreign and domestic investments.
In a note to investors, the fund house said the Multi-Asset FoF with its existing asset allocation and investment objective could not be classified under any of the categories specified in the SEBI framework.
After this, the scheme will not accept registrations via lump sum or SIP/STP from 27 January. Existing SIP and STP for investments in the scheme will be discontinued from February 5.
However, the scheme will continue to be repaid and switched off. The scheme will apply for three years from January 27 and will be merged or liquidated after three years.
Sunil Subramaniam, CEO of independent think tank Sense and Simplicity, said SEBI has introduced a categorization framework for FoFs, requiring schemes to fit specific sectors such as domestic equities, debt or foreign funds.
The regulator does not want an investor interested in domestic assets to be exposed to foreign investments under the name of multi-asset FoF, he said.
ICICI Pru AMC’s Passive Multi-Asset FoF includes 71 per cent domestic equity/debt ETFs, 25.5 per cent foreign ETFs, plus gold and this does not correspond to any category specified by SEBI, he added.
As part of the ‘grandfathering’, the AMC will now keep the fund as it is without accepting new inflows for the next three years, Subramaniam said.
The ICICI Prudential Passive Multi-Asset Fund of Funds has assets under management of ₹1,415 crore and has achieved a compound annual growth rate of 15 per cent over the past three years.
The fund is managed directly by ICICI Pru AMC’s CIO Sankaran Naren and top fund managers including Manish Banthia, Dharmesh Kakkad and Ritesh Lunawat.
Early this month, Motilal Oswal AMC stopped fresh inflows into the Motilal Oswal Nifty Microcap 250 Index Fund as it did not fit SEBI’s categorization norms, which recognizes large (top 100 companies by market capitalization), mid-market (101-250 companies) and small (251 and above). However, there is no separate classification for microcaps.
Motilal Oswal’s fund, launched in July 2023, tracked the Nifty Microcap 250 index, which represents 250 companies outside the Nifty 500 universe. Since its inception, the scheme has delivered cumulative returns of around 22 per cent and assets under management of ₹2,600 crore.
Published on January 25, 2026
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