PPFCF holdings ICICI Bank PPFCF holdings PPFAS Mutual Fund Banking sector Indian financials Rajeev Thakkar Private sector banks

ICICI Bank at PPFCF

From WebNotes, a public knowledge base. Last updated 16 May 2026. Reading time ~11 min.

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ICICI Bank Limited has been a long-running domestic holding of the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund (PPFCF) and one of the two large private-sector bank anchors in the scheme. The position has run alongside HDFC Bank at PPFCF as a paired exposure to the high-quality private-banking thesis that has been a recurring theme in PPFAS’s domestic-equity allocation.

For PPFAS Mutual Fund and the fund management team led by Rajeev Thakkar , Raunak Onkar and Rukun Tarachandani , ICICI Bank represented one of the cleanest turnaround narratives in Indian financial services. After a difficult period of corporate-loan stress and governance controversy in the 2016 to 2018 cycle, the bank was reshaped under Sandeep Bakhshi (who became MD and CEO in October 2018) into a higher-quality, retail-focused, technology-driven franchise. The turnaround offered the kind of contrarian, multi-year accumulation opportunity consistent with the PPFAS investment philosophy and PPFAS contrarian investing .

This article documents ICICI Bank’s role in PPFCF: the company background, the original investment thesis under PPFAS value investing doctrine, the position history including the Bakhshi-era turnaround and re-rating, and the contemporary positioning of the holding through the May 2026 factsheet, when the fund’s PPFCF AUM trajectory reached Rs 1,60,952 crore.

ICICI Bank has appeared consistently in PPFCF’s top holdings list, often in the 3 to 5 per cent weight range, demonstrating the team’s view that a focused multi-year position can compound effectively through cycles. The bank is referenced regularly in monthly factsheet commentary at amc.ppfas.com and in the unitholders’ meet discussions.

Company background

ICICI Bank Limited is a private-sector commercial bank headquartered in Mumbai. It was incorporated in 1994 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Limited (ICICI), a development financial institution founded in 1955. In 2002, in a landmark transaction, ICICI Bank merged with its parent ICICI and two of its retail finance subsidiaries to create the universal bank that exists today.

The bank operates a comprehensive retail, wholesale and treasury franchise across approximately 6,000 branches in India and a presence in 14 countries through subsidiaries and representative offices. Subsidiaries include ICICI Prudential Life Insurance, ICICI Lombard General Insurance, ICICI Securities, ICICI Prudential Asset Management Company and ICICI Home Finance, among others.

Sandeep Bakhshi has served as managing director and CEO since 4 October 2018. He succeeded Chanda Kochhar, whose tenure ended amid governance allegations linked to a corporate loan to Videocon Group. Under Bakhshi, the bank has executed a clear strategic reset towards “fair to customer, fair to bank” pricing, retail focus, technology investment and conservative underwriting. The transformation produced a steady reduction in non-performing assets, improved coverage ratios and a step-change in return on assets and return on equity.

The official ICICI Bank website is icicibank.com and the bank’s shares are listed on the National Stock Exchange (ticker ICICIBANK) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (code 532174). ICICI Bank American Depositary Shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under ticker IBN.

Investment thesis at PPFCF

The ICICI Bank thesis at PPFCF rests on several pillars consistent with the PPFAS investment philosophy .

First, the turnaround narrative. The 2016 to 2018 cycle had brought ICICI Bank to a stressed point, with elevated non-performing assets, governance concerns and depressed valuations. The Bakhshi-led reset transformed the bank’s risk culture, underwriting discipline and growth strategy. For a fund team trained in PPFAS contrarian investing , the willingness to accumulate during the difficult period and ride the recovery was a textbook case study.

Second, the retail-heavy growth thesis. Post-2018, ICICI Bank accelerated retail loan growth (home loans, auto loans, personal loans, credit cards) while moderating wholesale exposure. The retail-skewed mix improved margin profile and asset-quality consistency.

Third, technology and digital. ICICI Bank made early and aggressive investments in mobile-first banking (iMobile Pay, InstaBIZ for SMEs, video KYC) that produced a strong digital franchise complementing the physical branch network. The technology investment was particularly important for low-cost customer acquisition.

Fourth, valuation reset. Through much of the 2018 to 2022 cycle, ICICI Bank traded at a meaningful discount to HDFC Bank on price-to-book metrics. As the turnaround compounded into improved fundamentals, the multiple gap narrowed. PPFCF benefited from both fundamental compounding and valuation re-rating.

Fifth, PPFAS focused portfolio discipline. The bank’s quality justified a top-tier position in the 25 to 35 stock construct, alongside HDFC Bank as the parallel private-bank anchor. The pairing managed bank-specific risk while preserving exposure to the high-quality private-banking thesis.

Sixth, PPFAS tax-aware portfolio management . Long-running ownership deferred Section 112A long-term capital gains while the bank’s dividend yield contributed to total return.

Position history

ICICI Bank has been a portfolio holding of PPFAS schemes from the early years of PPLTVF after its May 2013 launch. Through the 2013 to 2017 period, the bank was typically among the larger domestic positions. The 2016 to 2018 period of corporate-loan stress and governance controversy was a difficult cycle in which the fund team retained conviction and added to the position at distressed valuations.

The Bakhshi-led turnaround beginning in October 2018 inflected the position into a multi-year compounding phase. The 2018 SEBI scheme rationalisation, renaming PPLTVF as Parag Parikh Long Term Equity Fund on 16 February 2018, did not affect the position. The January 2021 transition to the flexi-cap mutual fund in India category preserved the multi-cap mandate.

The COVID-19 pandemic stress test in 2020 to 2021 was a particular validation of the post-2018 risk culture: ICICI Bank emerged with manageable asset quality issues, strong capital ratios and continued profitability. PPFCF retained the position through the cycle.

By the disclosure period in 2025 when Amazon at PPFCF was 8.51 per cent, ITC at PPFCF was 7.99 per cent and Alphabet at PPFCF was 7.08 per cent, ICICI Bank was among the next tier of significant weights, generally in the 3 to 5 per cent range.

Through the April 2026 factsheet, with HDFC Bank at PPFCF at 7.94 per cent as the top holding, Power Grid Corporation at PPFCF at 6.99 per cent and Coal India at PPFCF at 5.95 per cent, ICICI Bank continued to be a meaningful top-ten holding.

Recent positioning

The April 2026 PPFCF factsheet, when AUM reached Rs 1,40,949 crore (up 9.29 per cent month-on-month from Rs 1,28,966 crore in March), placed ICICI Bank as one of the larger top-ten domestic holdings in the financials sleeve, complementing HDFC Bank.

The May 2026 commentary from Rajeev Thakkar on the fund’s 18 to 22 per cent PPFAS cash holdings position emphasised valuation caution across the broader market. ICICI Bank’s relative valuation, however, remained reasonable in the team’s view, and the position was retained.

At the 12th annual unitholders’ meet on 22 November 2025 at Birla Matushree Sabhaghar, Mumbai, the team discussed ICICI Bank’s continued operational momentum, the digital-first customer-acquisition model and the comparative attractiveness against HDFC Bank, which was in the midst of its post-merger integration cycle.

Comparison with peer holdings

ICICI Bank sits alongside HDFC Bank as the two large private-sector bank anchors in PPFCF. Relative to HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank has historically operated with higher slippage ratios and lower reported NIMs but has narrowed the gap meaningfully post-2018. The pairing within the PPFAS focused portfolio provides diversified private-banking exposure while sharing the high-quality lender thesis.

Compared with Bajaj Holdings at PPFCF , which provides indirect exposure to Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Finserv and Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank gives direct bank-franchise exposure. Compared with smaller bank holdings such as Kotak Mahindra Bank that have appeared in factsheets, ICICI Bank is the larger weight.

Compared with foreign positions in Alphabet at PPFCF , Microsoft at PPFCF , Amazon at PPFCF and Meta Platforms at PPFCF , ICICI Bank offers rupee-revenue, India-economic-cycle and domestic-deposit-franchise exposure.

Context within PPFCF

PPFCF was launched on 24 May 2013 as PPLTVF, renamed Parag Parikh Long Term Equity Fund on 16 February 2018 and renamed Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund on 13 January 2021. The scheme is benchmarked against the Nifty 500 TRI and has delivered CAGR since inception of approximately 19.06 per cent against a category average of 15.22 per cent and the Nifty 500 TRI at 12.4 per cent. AUM crossed Rs 1 lakh crore in May 2025 and reached Rs 1,60,952 crore by 15 May 2026.

The fund is managed by Rajeev Thakkar , Raunak Onkar , Raj Mehta , Rukun Tarachandani and other team members. The mutual fund was set up with SEBI on 10 October 2012 under registration ID MF/069/12/01.

External references

ICICI Bank: icicibank.com
ICICI Bank investor relations: icicibank.com/about-us/investor-relations
PPFAS AMC factsheet archive: amc.ppfas.com/downloads/factsheet
PPFAS scheme page (PPFCF): amc.ppfas.com/schemes/parag-parikh-flexi-cap-fund
SEBI: www.sebi.gov.in

References

PPFAS Mutual Fund, October 2025 factsheet, amc.ppfas.com .
PPFAS Mutual Fund, March 2026 factsheet, amc.ppfas.com .
INDmoney, “PPFAS Flexi Cap April 2026 portfolio update,” indmoney.com .
Business Today, May 2026 cash commentary, businesstoday.in .
Angel One, “Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund crosses one lakh crore AUM,” angelone.in .
ICICI Bank, Annual Report 2024-25, icicibank.com .

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Last reviewed: 16 May 2026
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