Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund Launches Baroda BNP Paribas Energy Opportunities Fund to Capitalize on growth prospects in Energy sector
Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund has launched the New Fund Offer (NFO) of its Baroda BNP Paribas Energy Opportunities Fund that will open for subscription from January 21, 2025 to February 4, 2025. This scheme enables investors to benefit from the expanding energy sector, as India transitions from a developing to a developed economy.
It is said that “Energy is the key to prosperity”. History shows that countries’ energy demands increase as they transition from developing to developed economies. “As India’s GDP is projected to grow by 1.9x times in the next 5 years, India’s demand for energy is also poised to grow 1.7x times*. Our Baroda BNP Paribas Energy Opportunities Fund is positioned to unlock profitable investment opportunities for investors from the developments in India’s Energy sector," said Suresh Soni, CEO, Baroda BNP Paribas Asset Management India Pvt Ltd (AMC).
Riding India’s Energy Growth Wave
Between 2003 and 2023, Chinese energy consumption, per capita, surged from 1.5 megawatt hours (MWh) to 6.6 MWh#, reflecting strong growth tied to GDP expansion. Similarly, South Korea’s energy consumption has closely mirrored its per capita rise in GDP. India is now on a similar growth trajectory, with broad-based energy demand across households, agriculture, industry, commercial establishments, and infrastructure.
" Energy is a broad investment theme comprising almost a third of the stocks of the Nifty 500 index across a range of sectors and sub-sectors. Further, our research shows that not only does the Nifty Energy Total Return Index (Nifty Energy TRI) have a lower price-to-equity and price-to-book ratio compared to the Nifty 500 Total Return Index, but it also boasts higher dividend yield and faster earnings growth compared to the broader market," said Sanjay Chawla, Chief Investment Officer – Equity and Fund Manager for the scheme.
Energy sources to meet the demand of the economy include coal, crude oil, gas, nuclear, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, and hydrogen. The Baroda BNP Paribas Energy Opportunities Fund will allocate at least 80% of its assets to equity instruments of companies involved in exploration, production, distribution, transportation, and processing of traditional and new energy across market capitalizations.
Historically Proven Performance
Research by Baroda BNP Paribas AMC highlights that the Nifty Energy TRI has outperformed the Nifty 500 TRI over 3, 5, 7, and 10-year periods ending 31st December 2024&. This long-term outperformance underscores the potential of the energy theme to generate potential returns for investors across time horizons. "Our Baroda BNP Paribas Energy Opportunities Fund may be considered ideal for equity investors with a holding period of three years or more," added Mr. Soni.
A Future-Ready Portfolio
The scheme will focus on investment opportunities across the traditional energy chain as well as new energy transitions. "Indian energy demand is a secular story that will be powered by the doubling of the size of India's middle class, lifestyle changes driven by higher incomes, and energy transition. In addition, government’s focus on improving India’s energy security by more than doubling the share of natural gas to 15% of the energy mix by 2030 and boosting our coal security coupled with, the government’s plan to invite bids for 50 Gigawatt of renewable energy capacity annually between FY24-28 will see India’s solar power capacity grow 4X and wind power by 2.5X by 2031-32^. These structural changes aim to open a whole vista of profitable investment opportunities for investors," added Mr. Chawla.
The Baroda BNP Paribas Energy Opportunities Fund is yet another offering in keeping with the funds houses’s brand promise of ‘Together for more’ designed to bring together the power of markets to create wealth, with cost effective, professional investment management services that help savers progress on the path of prosperity.
In keeping with the governments focus on this key area, several central government schemes promoting the energy sector are currently operational, including the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) on high-efficiency solar modules, the National Solar Mission Rooftop scheme, Viability Gap Funding for battery energy storage systems, and the National Green Hydrogen Mission.
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