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Quick Summary
| What Works | What Doesn’t |
|---|---|
| Benchmark outperformance exists — but alpha is thin in flat years and barely clears the fee in several periods | Heavy large-cap tilt (61%) raises serious questions about fee justification |
| Disciplined mandate execution — no style drift observed | Top holdings overlap significantly with typical MF portfolios |
| Transparent monthly factsheets and market commentary | 2.5% fixed fee is a structural drag even in years of modest alpha |
| Fund management team has been in place since inception — continuity noted, though tenure alone doesn’t validate the strategy | AUM of ₹7,654 crore limits agility in the small-cap portion of the portfolio |
Verdict:
Abakkus All Cap has delivered genuine alpha since inception.
The data is real.
But the structural question you need to sit with is this: how much of what you’re paying 2.5% for could you already own through a far cheaper mutual fund portfolio — and is the incremental return wide enough to justify the fee, year after year?
Table of Contents
- Who Should Read This
- Who This PMS May Still Suit
- Who Should Likely Avoid This PMS
- What Is the Abakkus All Cap Approach?
- Performance Review
- The Fee Reality
- The Zero-Based Thinking Test
- Decision Factor Scorecard
- The Core Portfolio Architecture Question
- What a Genuinely Complementary PMS Looks Like
- Exit Considerations
- Key Takeaways
- FAQ Section
- Our Approach
1. Who Should Read This
- You invested in the Abakkus All Cap PMS and haven’t reviewed whether it still fits your overall portfolio architecture
- You’re wondering whether the alpha being generated is enough to justify the fee you’re paying every single year
- You hold a core mutual fund portfolio and want to know how much this PMS is actually adding — vs. duplicating
- You’ve seen your PMS returns but haven’t sat down to calculate what they look like net of the 2.5% annual fee
- You are an HNI investor who made a considered decision, and are now willing to review it with fresh eyes
2. Who This PMS May Still Suit
- Investors who have a very low-cost core portfolio of index funds and genuinely need active stock selection layered on top
- Those with a long holding horizon of 5+ years who can absorb fee drag in lean alpha years
- Investors who have already held for 3+ years and are approaching zero exit load — exiting now would crystallise cost without benefit
- Investors who have specifically verified that their existing MF portfolio does not hold the top holdings of this PMS (Max Financial, Polycab, Axis Bank, HDFC Bank, L&T, SBI)
3. Who Should Likely Avoid This PMS
- Anyone already holding diversified large-cap or flexi-cap mutual funds — the overlap with this portfolio is uncomfortably high
- Investors who cannot stomach a 2.5% annual fee in years where the alpha is thin or negative
- Those who entered this PMS expecting small and mid-cap oriented alpha, given that 61% of the current portfolio sits in large caps
- Investors who are yet to cross the 1-year mark and face a 1.5% exit load on top of any underperformance in their specific entry cohort
4. What Is the Abakkus All Cap Approach?
Key Facts
| Strategy Type | All Cap / Flexi Cap — PMS |
| Benchmark | BSE 500 TRI |
| Inception Date | October 29, 2020 |
| Fund Managers | Mr. Aman Chowhan & Mr. Hitesh Arora |
| Total AUM | ₹7,654 crore (~USD 805.6 million) |
| Minimum Investment | ₹50,00,000 |
| Fee Structure (Fixed) | 2.5% per annum |
| Fee Structure (Variable) | 1.75% AMC + 15% profit sharing above 9% hurdle |
| Exit Load | 1.5% (Year 1), Nil thereafter |
| Market Cap Allocation | Large Cap: 61.47% / Mid Cap: 10.55% / Small Cap: 20.98% / Cash: 7% |
The mandate, as stated, is benchmark-agnostic and constructed bottom-up using Abakkus’s proprietary ‘MEETS’ framework.
Large cap allocation follows a top-down sector view, with alpha generation targeted primarily from the broader market — the mid and small-cap portion of the book.
Here is the honest framing, and it is worth pausing on: when 61.5% of your all-cap mandate sits in large caps, you are not running a genuinely differentiated strategy.
You are running a portfolio that, at its core, looks very much like any well-managed flexi-cap mutual fund — just at roughly two to three times the cost.
So the question worth asking before you read any further is — what exactly are you paying for?
5. Performance Review
When did you last actually sit down and look at this PMS’s returns — not the headline number, but the alpha column?
Here it is, laid out clearly.
Trailing Returns Table (as on May 31, 2026)
| Period | Abakkus All Cap | BSE 500 TRI | Alpha (+/-) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Month | 1.23% | -0.17% | +1.40% |
| 3 Months | -2.27% | -2.34% | +0.07% |
| 6 Months | -0.27% | -5.39% | +5.12% |
| 1 Year | 8.69% | -0.07% | +8.76% |
| 2 Years (CAGR) | 6.78% | 4.14% | +2.64% |
| 3 Years (CAGR) | 17.05% | 13.46% | +3.59% |
| 4 Years (CAGR) | 16.71% | 13.31% | +3.40% |
| 5 Years (CAGR) | 15.12% | 12.29% | +2.83% |
| Since Inception (CAGR) | 22.99% | 17.57% | +5.42% |
Performance data: Net of fees (pre-tax), TWRR basis.
For context, top-performing flexi-cap mutual funds delivered 5-year CAGRs ranging from approximately 15% to 20% over the same period — HDFC Flexi Cap at 17.55%, JM Flexicap at 17.04%, Parag Parikh at 15.37%, Franklin India Flexi Cap at 16.1%, and Kotak Flexicap at 14.2%.
Abakkus All Cap’s net 5-year CAGR of 15.12% sits at the lower end of this range — and these mutual funds charged 0.6%–0.9% in expense ratio vs the 2.5% fixed fee here.
The pre-tax qualifier matters too: PMS gains are taxed at the stock level on every rebalancing transaction, which can meaningfully erode net-of-tax returns further — unlike mutual funds where tax is deferred until redemption.
Calendar Year Performance
| Year | Abakkus All Cap | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| CY 2020 (partial) | 11% | Inception Oct 2020 |
| CY 2021 | 71.53% | Exceptional bull run |
| CY 2022 | -1.37% | Broadly flat market |
| CY 2023 YTD (from data) | 36.26% | Midcap-driven rally |
| CY 2024 | 13.52% | |
| CY 2025 | 11.14% | |
| CY 2026 YTD | -0.57% | Geopolitical/crude headwinds |
What the data tells you — and what it doesn’t
The alpha record is real.
Across every major time horizon, the strategy has beaten its benchmark.
That deserves honest acknowledgement.
The since-inception alpha of 5.42% per annum is meaningful, and the 2021 performance of 71.53% shows what the strategy can do in a favourable small and mid-cap environment.
But here is what the calendar year table quietly reveals: in years where the market was broadly flat (2022) or driven by narrow large-cap themes, alpha compressed significantly.
The strategy depends heavily on mid and small-cap participation for its edge.
In 2025, the 11.14% return was just 2–3 percentage points above what an index fund delivered — and you paid 2.5% for that.
Would you have felt that was a fair exchange, if someone had told you that upfront?
The question is not whether the fund manager is good.
The question is: is the alpha, averaged across all types of years, wide enough to clear the fee hurdle consistently?
6. The Fee Reality
Let’s talk about the number that never makes it into the marketing brochure.
The PMS Value Framework
Gross Alpha > Fee = Value Added Gross Alpha ≈ Fee = Break-Even Gross Alpha < Fee = Value Destroyed
Let’s apply this directly. The 5-year net alpha is 2.83% per annum. That is the net figure — after the 2.5% fee has already been deducted.
So the gross alpha generated before fees is approximately 5.33% per annum over 5 years.
The fee consumed 2.5 percentage points of that every year — eating nearly half the outperformance generated.
In the 2-year CAGR window, net alpha was just 2.64%. Gross alpha before fees: approximately 5.14%.
The fee took nearly 49% of what was generated. Sit with that for a moment.
This is the fee reality, and it sits in the break-even to barely-value-added zone depending on which period you measure.
Fee Drag on ₹50 Lakhs: The Rupee Picture
| Scenario | Fee | Net Return | Corpus After 5 Years | Corpus After 7 Years |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abakkus All Cap (5yr CAGR) | 2.5% p.a. | 15.12% | ₹1.09 crore | ₹1.55 crore |
| Active Flexi-Cap MF (top funds avg ~16.5%) | 0.6–0.9% p.a. | ~16.5% | ₹1.14 crore | ₹1.65 crore |
| Passive Index Fund (BSE 500 TRI, 0.15% fee) | 0.15% p.a. | 12.29% | ₹89.7 lakhs | ₹1.25 crore |
(Revised Table ↑)
Calculations use CAGR compounding on ₹50 lakhs initial corpus. Net-of-fee returns used for all scenarios.
Here is what the table is really telling you, and it is worth reading carefully.
The top active flexi-cap mutual funds — funds you can invest in with ₹5,000, with full liquidity, no exit load after a year, and an expense ratio of under 1.5% — have outperformed this PMS on a net returns basis over 5 years. Not matched it. Outperformed it. And they did it while charging you roughly one-fourth the fee.
On a ₹50 lakh corpus, that difference compounds to approximately ₹5–10 lakhs more in your pocket over 5–7 years — through a mutual fund that you can exit any business day, that doesn’t trigger capital gains on every internal rebalancing transaction, and that requires no minimum ticket of ₹50 lakhs to access.
The question then is not whether Abakkus All Cap is a poor strategy. It isn’t. The question is whether you are being adequately compensated for the higher fee, the illiquidity, the tax complexity, and the ₹50 lakh lock-in — when the freely available, lower-cost alternative has delivered more. That is not a rhetorical question. It is the only question that matters here.
7. The Zero-Based Thinking Test
This is the most important section in this article. Read it slowly.
Imagine you sold this PMS today.
The money is sitting in your bank account. You have no prior history with this fund.
You have no sunk cost, no emotional attachment, no memory of the 2021 returns.
You are simply an informed investor with ₹50 lakhs in cash, looking at the options available to you.
Would you invest this money in the Abakkus All Cap PMS today?
Before you answer, consider what you are actually buying:
- A portfolio that is 61% large-cap — stocks you can buy through any flexi-cap mutual fund at 0.5% to 1% per year
- A portfolio whose top 10 holdings include HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, L&T, and Sun Pharma — names that almost certainly already exist in your mutual fund portfolio
- A 2.5% annual fee that leaves your account regardless of whether the market was kind that year
- A strategy that has delivered net 2.83% alpha per annum over 5 years — real, but not structurally wide
If you would not invest fresh money here today — and be honest with yourself — then what you’re really doing by staying is letting inertia manage your wealth.
That is not a strategy. That is a default.
The exit is not a confession of error. It is a recalibration.
The person who invested in 2020 or 2021 made a reasonable decision with the information available then.
The question is whether the person sitting here today — with five years of data, fee drag numbers, and a clear picture of the portfolio’s large-cap tilt — would make the same choice again.
Staying invested is a choice. It requires justification. The burden of proof is not on exit. It is on continuing.
8. Decision Factor Scorecard
| Decision Factor | Rating | Analysis |
|---|---|---|
| Uniqueness vs Existing MF Portfolio | 🔴 Concern | If you hold any of the following in your mutual fund portfolio — HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, L&T, Sun Pharma — you already own the core of this PMS. The top 10 holdings of the Abakkus All Cap Approach are a near-mirror of a well-managed flexi-cap fund. The small-cap allocation (21%) provides some differentiation, but at 61% large-cap weight, the portfolio cannot be called genuinely differentiated. The investor paying a PMS premium deserves access to what mutual funds structurally cannot hold — this portfolio does not deliver that in sufficient proportion. |
| Alpha Consistency Across All Periods | 🟢 Pass | To Abakkus’s credit, the strategy has outperformed its benchmark consistently across 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5-year trailing periods. The since-inception alpha of 5.42% per annum is the most compelling data point in this review. Alpha has not been a one-year phenomenon — it has persisted. The concern is not whether alpha exists; it is whether the margin of alpha is wide enough after the fee is extracted to justify the product format. On that narrower question, the verdict is mixed. |
| Justification for PMS Premium Fee | 🟡 Mixed | The 5-year net alpha of 2.83% per annum is positive. But it must be weighed against what you gave up to achieve it. A passive BSE 500 index fund at 0.15% delivered 12.29% CAGR over the same period. The Abakkus All Cap delivered 15.12% — a net gap of 2.83%. The gross alpha before fees was approximately 5.33%, of which 2.5 percentage points were consumed by the fee every year. In strong alpha years (2021), the fee looked trivial. In moderate alpha years (2025: ~11%), the fee consumed a disproportionate share. The fee is not self-evidently unjustified, but it is not self-evidently justified either — it depends entirely on which market cycle you measure from. |
| Downside Protection in Market Corrections | 🟢 Pass | In the recent 6-month window (Nov 2025 – May 2026), which was marked by geopolitical shock, a crude oil spike, and broad market weakness (BSE 500 TRI: -5.39%), the Abakkus All Cap delivered -0.27% — a remarkable 5.12% margin of protection. The 3-month period tells a similar story: -2.27% vs -2.34% for the benchmark. This is where active management adds genuine value — not just in bull runs, but in limiting the damage. |
| Portfolio Complement for MF Investor | 🔴 Concern | If your mutual fund portfolio contains any large-cap, flexi-cap, or multi-cap fund, this PMS is largely replicating what you already own. The 21% small-cap allocation provides some incremental exposure, but it is not enough to justify calling this a genuine portfolio complement. A truly complementary satellite allocation would access opportunities that mutual funds structurally cannot — concentrated micro-cap strategies, sector-specific mandates, or high-conviction portfolios with 15–20 stocks. The Abakkus All Cap, with its diversified 10-sector structure and large-cap anchor, does not fit that description. |
| Mandate Purity and Discipline | 🟢 Pass | The evidence here is clean. No entries or exits were recorded in May 2026 — the portfolio has been held with conviction through market turbulence. Sector weights have been maintained with discipline, and the stated philosophy of 3–5 year holding periods is demonstrably practised. There is no evidence of momentum-chasing or style drift. For investors who care about mandate discipline (and you should), this is a genuine positive. |
| Fund Manager Transparency | 🟢 Pass | Abakkus publishes detailed monthly factsheets with attribution analysis, top holding disclosures, sector allocations, and a full market commentary. The June 2026 update — 7 pages of macro analysis, sector views, and portfolio commentary — is among the more thorough investor communications in the Indian PMS space. Transparency is not a concern here. |
| Investment Horizon Suitability | 🟡 Mixed | The stated holding horizon is 3–5 years. The 3-year and 5-year data does justify the strategy on its own terms. But the variability of alpha across years — from 71.53% in 2021 to near-flat in 2022, and thin margins in 2025 — means the outcome is highly dependent on entry timing. An investor who entered in late 2021 (post the 71% run) has experienced a very different journey than one who entered in 2020. The strategy works, but it does not work uniformly across all entry points. |
| Market Cap Flexibility Utilisation | 🟡 Mixed | The mandate is “All Cap” — implying genuine flexibility to move where the opportunity is. At 61% large-cap weight in May 2026, the portfolio is not exercising that flexibility fully. The mid-cap sleeve at 10.55% is notably thin for a strategy that promises alpha from broader market exposure. 7% cash indicates some caution but also foregone deployment. A more complete use of the mandate’s flexibility — particularly toward quality mid-caps in a correcting market — would strengthen the case. |
| Concentration vs Diversification Balance | 🟢 Pass | The top 10 holdings account for approximately 49% of the portfolio, with the largest single position (Max Financial Services) at 5.40%. This is reasonably well-managed concentration — enough to generate alpha, not so much as to create binary risk. The 10-sector diversification across Industrials, Banks, Commodities, NBFC, Healthcare, and others provides structural balance without diluting the conviction bets. |
| AUM Size and Strategy Capacity | 🟡 Mixed | At ₹7,654 crores, the AUM is substantial — and for a strategy with 21% in small caps, liquidity management is a live concern. A ₹1,606 crore small-cap sleeve in a single strategy creates real execution constraints when building or unwinding positions. AUM of this size is not a disqualifier, but it does mean the strategy’s small-cap flexibility is increasingly constrained. You are, in part, paying for a promise the fund’s own size makes harder to keep. |
| Manager Tenure and Continuity Risk | 🟢 Pass | Mr. Aman Chowhan and Mr. Hitesh Arora have managed this strategy since its inception in October 2020. The 5+ year tenure through multiple market cycles — including the 2021 bull run, 2022 correction, and 2024–2026 volatility — provides meaningful continuity. No manager changes have been flagged, and the founding philosophy appears institutionally embedded. Key-person risk exists (as it does in all PMS structures), but it is mitigated by the dual-manager model. |
9. The Core Portfolio Architecture Question
Here is a useful mental framework — and if you have never thought about your portfolio this way, now is a good time to start.
Your core portfolio — the majority of your investable assets — should be working hardest at the lowest possible cost.
That means diversified, liquid, low-fee instruments: index funds, flexi-cap mutual funds, and multi-asset allocations.
They give you broad market participation with maximum cost efficiency.
Your satellite portfolio is where you take concentrated bets — in strategies that genuinely go where your core portfolio cannot.
Not strategies that simply re-run the same large-cap universe at 15x the cost.
The honest question to ask yourself: if you removed the Abakkus All Cap from your portfolio today and replaced it with a quality Flexi-cap mutual fund, how different would your portfolio actually be?
If the answer is “not very different,” then you are not running a core-satellite architecture.
You are running a core portfolio with an expensive mirror of itself attached to it.
10. What a Genuinely Complementary PMS Looks Like
A satellite PMS earns its seat when it does things your mutual funds structurally cannot.
Think about whether this list describes what you’re currently holding:
- Concentrated portfolios of 15–25 high-conviction stocks, not 40+ diversified holdings
- Genuine small and mid-cap focus — not 61% large-cap with a small-cap garnish
- Sector-specific or theme-specific strategies that no mutual fund mandate can replicate
- Strategies that are capacity-constrained by design — where the manager closes to new money when the opportunity set gets thin
- Consistent gross alpha meaningfully above 5–6% per annum, wide enough that after the 2.5% fee and tax drag, net alpha remains material
The Abakkus All Cap Approach is a competent, transparent, and credible strategy.
The question is not its quality.
The question is its fit in your portfolio.
11. Exit Considerations
If you’ve read this far and are seriously considering your options, here is what you need to know before making any move.
Exit Load: 1.5% applies only in Year 1. If you have been invested for more than 12 months, you face zero exit load.
Tax Treatment: PMS investments are held directly in your Demat account.
Each stock sale triggers capital gains tax at the stock level — 12.5% LTCG (held > 12 months) or 20% STCG (held ≤ 12 months).
This is different from mutual funds, where only redemption triggers tax.
Before exiting, ask your fund manager for a break-up of your holdings by acquisition date — your tax liability depends on the vintage of each position.
Staggered Exit Strategy: If the tax liability is large, consider a staggered exit over 2–3 quarters to manage within LTCG thresholds and avoid concentrated tax events in a single financial year.
Timing: The current market environment — with Nifty 50 down 3.8% on a 1-year basis and broader markets recovering — means exit prices in the large-cap sleeve are lower than 12 months ago.
If your investment horizon is 2+ years and you are not in distress, there is no urgency.
But if you are reviewing the portfolio fit question, now is as good a time as any to gather the data and think clearly.
12. Key Takeaways
If you take nothing else from this review, take these eight points back to your desk and think them through carefully.
- Abakkus All Cap has delivered genuine, consistent alpha since inception — the 5-year net alpha of 2.83% per annum and since-inception alpha of 5.42% per annum are real and verifiable.
- At 61% large-cap weight, the strategy is structurally more similar to a flexi-cap mutual fund than an all-cap PMS — and the fee justification weakens significantly when the product resembles what lower-cost alternatives already offer.
- The 2.5% annual fee consumed nearly half of the gross alpha generated over 5 years — this is not a crisis, but it is a structural drag that compounds silently in your favour of the fund manager, not yours.
- If your mutual fund portfolio contains large-cap or flexi-cap funds, you almost certainly hold the top 6–8 names of this PMS already — the overlap question deserves a hard look.
- The strategy’s best alpha moments have come from its mid and small-cap exposure — but the large-cap anchor limits how much of that upside you actually capture net of cost.
- The zero-based thinking test is simple: if you would not invest fresh money in this product today, the case for staying invested must rest on something stronger than inertia.
- There is no exit load after Year 1 — if you are reviewing portfolio fit, the cost of moving is lower than you may think.
- A genuinely complementary PMS should access what your mutual funds cannot. Before deciding to stay or exit, verify whether this strategy is adding a new return stream — or repackaging the one you already own.
13. FAQ
These are the questions we hear most often from investors reviewing this PMS.
We’ve answered them as directly as we can.
Is Abakkus All Cap PMS a good investment?
It has a credible alpha track record since inception.
Whether it is right for you depends on your existing mutual fund portfolio, your overall asset allocation, and whether the 2.5% annual fee is generating net value above what a lower-cost alternative would deliver.
How has Abakkus All Cap Approach performed vs its benchmark?
As of May 31, 2026, the strategy has outperformed the BSE 500 TRI across all major trailing periods — 1Y (+8.76%), 3Y (+3.59%), 5Y (+2.83%), and since inception (+5.42%).
Alpha has been consistent, not isolated to a single year.
What fees does Abakkus PMS charge?
The fixed fee option is 2.5% per annum.
The variable option charges 1.75% AMC plus 15% profit sharing above a 9% hurdle.
The fee leaves your account regardless of market performance in a given year.
Is the Abakkus All Cap Approach fee justified?
Over 5 years, the net alpha of 2.83% per annum suggests the fee has been broadly justified — but only marginally.
In years of thin alpha (2022, parts of 2025), the fee consumed a disproportionate share of returns. The justification is real but fragile.
How much overlap does this PMS have with mutual funds?
Significant.
The top holdings — HDFC Bank, SBI, Axis Bank, L&T, Sun Pharma, Max Financial — are core holdings in most well-managed large-cap and flexi-cap mutual funds.
If you hold any diversified equity mutual fund, you are almost certainly already holding 5–7 of the top 10 PMS positions.
What is the minimum investment for Abakkus PMS?
₹50,00,000 (₹50 lakhs).
Can I exit the Abakkus All Cap PMS without a penalty?
After 12 months from your investment date, there is no exit load.
Tax treatment depends on the holding period of individual stocks in your PMS account — LTCG at 12.5% or STCG at 20%.
How does this PMS compare to an index fund?
Over 5 years, the strategy delivered 15.12% CAGR vs 12.29% for BSE 500 TRI — a 2.83% net advantage.
However, since the fee itself is 2.5%, the gross alpha was approximately 5.33%, of which the fee consumed nearly half.
Is this a good satellite investment for my portfolio?
Only if your core portfolio does not already hold the names in this portfolio.
Given its 61% large-cap tilt and holdings identical to typical flexi-cap funds, it does not function as a genuine satellite allocation for most diversified MF investors.
Should I exit the Abakkus All Cap PMS?
That depends on your individual portfolio composition, tax position, and financial goals.
The right approach is a professional portfolio review — not a generic recommendation.
We encourage you to bring your complete portfolio statement for an objective assessment.
14. Our Approach
At Holistic Financial Services, we don’t earn commissions from products we review.
Our job is to help you build a portfolio that actually works — not one that looks impressive in a brochure.
If you’d like to sit down and map your PMS against your existing mutual fund holdings, we offer a complimentary portfolio review for HNI investors.
Bring your statement. We’ll bring the data. No sales agenda. Just an honest conversation.
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