Franklin India Prima Fund and L&T Midcap Fund both belong to the mid-cap category of Equity Funds. mid cap funds refer to the Mutual Fund schemes who invest their corpus in equity shares of mid-cap companies having a market capitalization ranging between INR 500 - INR 10,000 crores. These companies have the potential to grow and form part of large cap companies. Mid Cap Companies in many situations have earned more returns than large cap companies. Though Franklin India Prima Fund and L&T Midcap Fund belong to the same category of equity funds yet; they are different in terms of NAV, Assets Under Management (AUM), and other factors. So, let us understand the differences between both Franklin India Prima Fund and L&T Midcap Fund through this article.
Franklin India Prima Fund is managed by Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund and was launched on December 01, 1993. The investment objective of the scheme is classified into two, namely, primary objective and secondary objective. Its primary objective is to attain capital growth while the secondary objective is to earn income at regular intervals. This scheme can be chosen as a substitute for direct investment in mid-sized companies. The fund aims to identify companies having a greater potential for growth and are at early stages of business life cycles.
As on January 31, 2018, some of the Top 10 constituents of Franklin India Prima Fund include Finolex Cables Limited, SKF India Limited, Voltas Limited, and Equitas Holdings Limited.
Franklin India Prima Fund uses Nifty 50, Nifty 500, and Nifty Free Float Midcap 100 indexes to construct its Portfolio.
L&T Midcap Fund is an open-ended equity fund scheme whose objective is to attain growth in capital by predominantly Investing the corpus money in shares of mid-cap companies. The scheme was incepted on August 09, 2004, and it uses Nifty Free Float Midcap 100 Index to construct its portfolio.
As on January 31, 2018, some of the shares that form part of L&T Midcap Fund’s portfolio include Cholamandalam Investment and Finance Company Limited, Emami Limited, Berger Paints India Limited, Kajaria Ceramics Limited, and Jindal Steel & Power Limited.
The various criteria that L&T Midcap Fund uses to choose the shares include Management Quality, Liquidity, Competitive Position, and Valuations.
Though both of the schemes are of the same category, yet they exhibit different attributes based on different parameters such as AUM, minimum SIP investment, and so on which are divided into four sections, namely, Basics Section, Performance Section, Yearly Performance Section, and Other details Section. So, let us have a comparative study of both these schemes based on these sections.
Some of the comparable elements that form part of the basics section include Fincash Rating, AUM, Scheme Category, expense ratio and many more. To begin with the Scheme Category, it can be said that both the schemes belong to same Equity Mid & small cap Category.
As per Fincash Rating, it can be said that Franklin India Prima Fund is rated as 3-Star while; L&T Midcap Fund is rated as a 4-Star Fund.
The table given below summarizes the comparable parameters of the basics section.
Parameters Basics NAV Net Assets (Cr) Launch Date Rating Category Sub Cat. Category Rank Risk Expense Ratio Sharpe Ratio Information Ratio Alpha Ratio Benchmark Exit Load Franklin India Prima Fund
Growth
Fund Details ₹2,833.28 ↑ 2.95 (0.10 %) ₹12,871 on 31 Jul 26 1 Dec 93 ☆☆☆ Equity Mid Cap 29 Moderately High 1.77 -0.06 -0.41 -5.64 Not Available 0-1 Years (1%),1 Years and above(NIL) Essel Large and Midcap Fund
Growth
Fund Details ₹36.6335 ↓ -0.07 (-0.19 %) ₹313 on 31 Jul 26 7 Dec 15 Equity Large & Mid Cap Moderately High 2.26 0.07 -1.18 0.03 Not Available 0-365 Days (1%),365 Days and above(NIL)
Performance Section compares the Compounded Annual Growth Rate or CAGR performance of both the schemes at different time periods. Some of these different time periods are 1 Month Return, 1 Year Return, 5 Year Return, and Return Since Inception. On the hindsight, it can be said that at most time points, the returns generated by L&T Mutual Fund is higher as compared to the returns of Franklin India Prima Fund. The performance summary of Franklin India Prima Fund and L&T Midcap Fund is tabulated as follows.
Parameters Performance 1 Month 3 Month 6 Month 1 Year 3 Year 5 Year Since launch Franklin India Prima Fund
Growth
Fund Details -1.6% 7.9% 8.4% 3.9% 14.6% 13.3% 18.8% Essel Large and Midcap Fund
Growth
Fund Details -1.5% 6.2% 7.9% 5.3% 7.9% 9.4% 12.8%
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The Yearly Performance Section compares the absolute returns between both the schemes for a particular year. Even in case of yearly performance, it can be said that the returns generated by L&T Midcap Fund are higher as compared to Franklin India Prima Fund’s returns. the summary of yearly performance section is shown with the help of table given below.
Parameters Yearly Performance 2024 2023 2022 2021 2020 Franklin India Prima Fund
Growth
Fund Details 1.6% 31.8% 36.8% 2.2% 32.6% Essel Large and Midcap Fund
Growth
Fund Details 1.3% 16.1% 23.5% 0.3% 44.1%
This is the last section that compares the schemes on various parameters. Some of the comparable parameters that form part of this section are Minimum SIP and Lumpsum Investment. With respect to the Minimum SIP and Lumpsum Investment, it can be said that for Franklin India Prima Fund and L&T Midcap Fund, both SIP amount and Lumpsum amount are the same. The minimum SIP investment for both the schemes is INR 500 while the minimum lumpsum investment is INR 5,000.
Mr. Janakiraman Rengaraju, Mr. Hari Shyamsundar, and Mr. Srikesh Karunakaran Nair, together are the fund managers of Franklin India Prima Fund.
The fund managers who jointly manage the L&T Midcap Fund are Mr. S. N. Lahiri and Mr. Vihang Naik.
The table given below summarizes the comparison of both the schemes.
Parameters Other Details Min SIP Investment Min Investment Fund Manager Franklin India Prima Fund
Growth
Fund Details ₹500 ₹5,000 R. Janakiraman - 15.59 Yr. Essel Large and Midcap Fund
Growth
Fund Details ₹500 ₹1,000 Ashutosh Shirwaikar - 3.09 Yr.
Franklin India Prima Fund
Growth
Fund Details Growth of 10,000 investment over the years.
Date Value 31 Aug 21 ₹10,000 31 Aug 22 ₹10,214 31 Aug 23 ₹12,337 31 Aug 24 ₹18,838 31 Aug 25 ₹18,168 31 Aug 26 ₹19,410 Essel Large and Midcap Fund
Growth
Fund Details Growth of 10,000 investment over the years.
Date Value 31 Aug 21 ₹10,000 31 Aug 22 ₹10,758 31 Aug 23 ₹12,366 31 Aug 24 ₹16,011 31 Aug 25 ₹14,919 31 Aug 26 ₹16,234
Franklin India Prima Fund
Growth
Fund Details Asset Allocation
Asset Class Value Cash 2.33% Equity 97.67% Equity Sector Allocation
Sector Value Financial Services 24.35% Industrials 18.2% Consumer Cyclical 14.93% Basic Materials 9.97% Health Care 9.54% Technology 8.79% Real Estate 5.03% Communication Services 2.98% Utility 1.75% Consumer Defensive 1.2% Energy 0.94% Top Securities Holdings / Portfolio
Name Holding Value Quantity Kalyan Jewellers India Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 29 Feb 24 | KALYANKJIL3% ₹411 Cr 6,704,921
↑ 1,800,000 The Federal Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 30 Jun 20 | FEDERALBNK3% ₹346 Cr 9,649,683
↓ -675,000 Biocon Ltd (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 30 Jun 25 | BIOCON3% ₹345 Cr 8,094,684
↑ 1,875,000 IDFC First Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 30 Apr 25 | IDFCFIRSTB2% ₹312 Cr 36,893,177 Balkrishna Industries Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 30 Apr 24 | BALKRISIND2% ₹291 Cr 1,175,000 Coforge Ltd (Technology)
Equity, Since 31 Jul 22 | COFORGE2% ₹280 Cr 1,625,747
↑ 177,363 Prestige Estates Projects Ltd (Real Estate)
Equity, Since 31 Jan 22 | PRESTIGE2% ₹264 Cr 1,631,918 Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd Ordinary Shares (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Jan 23 | HAL2% ₹260 Cr 559,715 Mahindra & Mahindra Financial Services Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 30 Sep 22 | M&MFIN2% ₹256 Cr 6,648,740
↓ -1,764,616 PB Fintech Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 22 | POLICYBZR2% ₹256 Cr 1,600,578
↑ 550,000 Essel Large and Midcap Fund
Growth
Fund Details Asset Allocation
Asset Class Value Cash 5.19% Equity 94.81% Equity Sector Allocation
Sector Value Financial Services 36.81% Industrials 15.92% Health Care 9.52% Consumer Cyclical 8.22% Technology 7.47% Basic Materials 5.76% Communication Services 2.91% Consumer Defensive 2.8% Real Estate 2.76% Energy 2.65% Top Securities Holdings / Portfolio
Name Holding Value Quantity The Federal Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 30 Apr 21 | FEDERALBNK3% ₹10 Cr 290,000 Axis Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Dec 18 | 5322153% ₹9 Cr 76,000 HDFC Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 18 | HDFCBANK3% ₹9 Cr 122,684 Astral Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 30 Nov 24 | ASTRAL3% ₹9 Cr 62,500 UPL Ltd (Basic Materials)
Equity, Since 31 Jan 24 | UPL3% ₹8 Cr 140,000 Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 May 25 | KOTAKBANK3% ₹8 Cr 202,500 ICICI Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 28 Feb 18 | ICICIBANK2% ₹8 Cr 52,400 Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 31 Jul 24 | APOLLOHOSP2% ₹7 Cr 8,000 Samvardhana Motherson International Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 28 Feb 25 | MOTHERSON2% ₹7 Cr 475,000 Bank of Maharashtra (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Jul 24 | MAHABANK2% ₹7 Cr 873,500
Thus, from the above parameters, it can be said that there are differences between both the funds though they belong to the same category. As a result, investors should be careful while choosing the modalities of the schemes. They should understand the modalities of the scheme completely and check whether it matches with their investment objective or not. People should also consult a financial advisor if required. This will help them to ensure that their money is safe and paves way for wealth creation.