Axis Max Life US Equity Fund

The Axis Max Life US Equity Fund (SFIN: ULGC002002026USEQUITYFUMAX) is a passively managed equity fund that provides policyholders with exposure to leading US equity stocks. The fund will primarily invest in units of iShares S&P 100 ETF, which tracks the S&P 100 Index. This ETF-based structure ensures transparency, efficient execution, and access to globally recognised investment instruments.

The S&P 100 Index comprises 100 of the largest and most established US companies belonging to diverse sectors, including technology, healthcare, consumer goods, etc. These companies are market leaders and derive a significant proportion of their revenue globally. By investing in this fund, investors gain access to a diversified portfolio of high-quality US bluechip companies. The S&P 500 Index will serve as the reference-only benchmark for this fund.

The Axis Max Life US Equity Fund is mandated to keep at least 80% of its assets invested in equities at all times. Apart from equities, this fund can also include cash and money market instruments in its portfolio. However, these non-equity investments cannot comprise more than 20% of the overall fund portfolio.

Axis Max Life US Equity Fund is a newly launched fund that will primarily invest in units of the iShares S&P 100 ETF. Since, this ETF mirrors the S&P 100 Index, the historical returns of the S&P 100 Index can be used as a surrogate to gain insights into performance of the Axis Max Life US Equity Fund.

The below chart shows the historical returns of the S&P 100 Index verus the S&P 500 Index as of 31 March, 2026:

Note: 1 year, 3 year, 5 year and 10 year returns in the above chart are annualised returns of the USD Total Return variant of the respective indices. All returns data as of 31 March, 2026. Past returns do not guarantee future performance.

The graph above shows consistent outperformance by the S&P 100 Index versus the S&P 500 Index over various time periods. The performance of the newly launched Axis Max Life US Equity Fund is expected to follow a similar pattern. So, policyholders who opt for this fund may potentially benefit from their investments growing faster than the broader US market. However, there is no guarantee that the historically observed level of outperformance will be maintained in the future.

The Axis Max Life US Equity Fund follows a structured, disciplined investment approach through a fund-of-fund model. Instead of directly investing in individual US stocks, the fund will primarily invests in units of the iShares S&P 100 ETF, which tracks the S&P 100 Index.

The S&P 100 Index comprises 100 leading US companies that are part of the broad-based S&P 500 Index. These stocks are selected based on their large market capitalisation, strong financial fundamentals, high liquidity, and established market presence. This approach ensures that the fund gains exposure to companies that are not only industry leaders but also demonstrate stability and resilience across market cycles.

This investment selection process, while driven by the underlying index methodologyalso ensures diversification across key sectors while simultaneously ensuring that the portfolio features only high-quality stocks. This disciplined investment selection framework is expected to help the fund deliver exposure to high quality US while maintaining high liquidity and minimising concentration risk.

The Axis Max Life US Equity Fund is a newly launched ULIP fund, an accurate sectoral breakdown is not yet available. However, this fund will primarily invest in the iShares S&P 100 Index which mirrors the S&P 100 Index. So, the the sectoral breakdown of the S&P 100 Index can serve as a proxy for estimating the sectoral composition of the portfolio of the Axis Max Life US Equity Fund.

Check out the top 5 sectors featured in the S&P 100 Index as of 31 March, 2026:

As you can see, the S&P 100 Index features a highly diverse basket of stocks that includes key sectors such as IT, communication services, financials, etc. In case of a fund such as the Axis Max Life US Equity Fund, which is based on the S&P 100 Index, this diversification can help mitigate sector-specific risk and optimise portfolio returns.

The Axis Max Life US Equity Fund features the S&P 100 Index as its underlying asset. This represents some of the largest and most influential companies in the United States. Being a market-cap-weighted index, it allocates more to companies with larger market valuations, resulting in a portfolio tilted toward established global leaders. Based on the latest available index data, the top equity holdings (as a surrogate for the fund portfolio) include:

These top holdings highlight the fund’s exposure to high-quality, large-cap US companies that operate across various sectors and have significant global revenue footprints. This can help policyholders investing in the fund benefit from the structural strength of the US economy and its leadership position in global markets.

You can invest in the Axis Max Life US Equity Fund through the Axis Max Life Smart Global Investment Fostering Tomorrow Plan, a USD-denominated ULIP offered via the GIFT City (IFSC). This is designed to provide eligible policyholders such as NRIs an alternative route to make dollar denominated investments through GIFT City.

The Axis Max Life US Equity Fund may be beneficial for a wide range of investors including but not limited to:

• Individual seeking to expand their portfolios beyond domestic market and gain exposure to the US equity market
• Individuals who want to gain exposure to large cap US stocks in a tax-efficient manner
• Investors seeking passive investments which eliminate the possibility of fund manager bias
• Investors who have high risk tolerance and are seeking equity investments to ensure long-term capital growth

The above list is illustrative only, so, there may be other groups of individuals who may benefit by investing in this ULIP fund. However, one should keep in mind that the Axis Max Life US Equity Fund is primarily invested in equities. As, a result it is prone to significantly high volatility in the short-term. This is why, this fund features a risk rating of “Very High” and might not be suitable for more conservative investors.

Other than the Axis Max Life US Equity Fund, Axis Max Life Insurance offers several passively managed funds. Some of the popular ones are: