Shashi Tharoor, an Indian National Congress MP, who contested from Kerala's Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general elections is now waiting for the verdict on June 4, 2024. As votes are on the ballot, now his total investments in mutual funds, as disclosed in his nomination papers, worth Rs 1.72 crore have grabbed some attention.
Tharoor holds investments in 23 mutual funds as of March 2024 as per his nomination papers. Notably, tax savings seem to be his favourite category, with seven investments in different funds in this category. Under Section 80C of the Indian income tax laws, investments of up to Rs 1.5 lakh in a financial year in eligible securities are exempt from tax.
Tharoor's largest holding, worth Rs 15.78 lakh, lies in the HDFC Credit Risk Debt Fund. Credit risk funds are debt funds but known for their higher risk as these funds invest mainly in bonds which are rated AA or below by credit rating agencies, but offer potentially higher returns. Additionally, Tharoor also holds three other funds from the HDFC fund house that includes two flexi cap equity investments, one of it worth Rs 14.64 lakh. Overall Tharoor's portfolio looks aggressively invested with major holdings in flexi-cap funds and large and mid-cap funds, with some balance gained from balanced advantage funds.
He had the highest number of investments in Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund which holds investments across five schemes. Franklin India Focused Equity Fund holds a substantial Rs 14.01 lakh. Another notable investment was Franklin India Feeder - Franklin U.S. Opportunities Fund (Rs 3.72 lakh). Other international funds in Tharoor's portfolio were Edelweiss MSCI India Domestic & World Health Care 45 Index Fund and Edelweiss US Technology Equity FoF holding Rs 4.55 lakh.
The three schemes from ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, are ICICI Prudential Multicap Fund (Rs 14 lakh), and ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund (Rs 13.41 lakh). In terms of thematic funds, the substantial investment Tharoor has made was in ICICI Pru Pharma Healthcare & Diagnostics (P.H.D) Fund- Rs 11.28 lakh. In the largest mutual fund house, his holdings span across SBI Balanced Advantage Fund and SBI Multicap Fund with Rs 7.55 lakh and Rs 1.32 lakh investments, respectively.
In Mirae Asset Mutual Fund, Tharoor had investments in Mirae Asset ELSS Tax Saver Fund and Mirae Asset Large & Mid Cap Fund which holds Rs 1.95 lakh and Rs 11.32 lakh, respectively.
