Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund vs ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund: Which is Better in 2026? | sharpely

Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund Direct-Growth has delivered the higher 3-year CAGR (13.00% vs 12.87%). Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund Direct-Growth is the cheaper of the two with an expense ratio of 0.90% against 1.04%. ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Direct-Growth manages the larger corpus at ₹72.49k Cr. There is no single "better" fund — the right choice depends on your holding period, risk appetite and what you already own. Use the returns, risk and portfolio overlap tables above to judge which fits your portfolio, and remember that past returns do not guarantee future performance.

Over 1 year, Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund Direct-Growth returned 9.44% against 9.21% for ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Direct-Growth; and over 3 years, Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund Direct-Growth leads with a 13.00% CAGR versus 12.87%. Returns beyond one year are CAGR (annualised). Short-period returns are heavily influenced by market cycles, so compare over at least three to five years before drawing conclusions.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund Direct-Growth has the lower expense ratio at 0.90%, compared with 1.04% for ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Direct-Growth — a difference of 0.14% a year. The expense ratio is deducted from NAV daily, so a lower ratio directly improves your net return, though it should not be the only reason to pick a fund.

Both Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund Direct-Growth and ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Direct-Growth carry a "Very High" rating on the SEBI Riskometer. Within the same riskometer band, differences still show up in maximum drawdown, volatility and market-cap mix — all of which are compared in the tables above.

The portfolio overlap between the two funds is 34.5%, which is considered moderate. At this level the funds share a meaningful part of their portfolios but still differ enough to add some diversification. You can see the shared stocks in the overlap section above.

Yes — both are Hybrid: Dynamic Asset Allocation funds, which means they follow similar mandates and are benchmarked against comparable indices. That makes a direct comparison of returns, expense ratio and risk meaningful.

Aditya Birla Sun Life Balanced Advantage Fund Direct-Growth has a NAV of ₹131.58 and an AUM of ₹9.49k Cr, and was launched on 31 Dec 2012. ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Direct-Growth has a NAV of ₹89.75 and an AUM of ₹72.49k Cr, launched on 31 Dec 2012. NAV on its own says nothing about how expensive or cheap a fund is — only the return on it matters.