Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund: The Smart Way to Participate in India’s Growth Story

India has emerged as one of the top 5 domestic consumption driven economies in the world and recently private domestic consumption has reached the highest level in the past 20 years. In FY 2025, India’s private domestic consumption accounted for 61.4% of the GDP and this is expected to grow further with more young individuals especially the GenZ entering the workplace in the coming years.

You might be wondering if there is some way to participate in and benefit from this situation as the country is ideally placed to leverage GDP growth through private consumption for the foreseeable future. This is where the Axis Max Life India Consumption Fund can be an excellent option.

This is an equity fund based on the consumption theme and will be available to existing and new policyholders through various Axis Max Life Unit Linked Insurance Plans such as the Flexi Wealth Advantage Plan.

Read on to know the key features of this actively managed equity fund to make an informed decision regarding whether this thematic fund can be a suitable addition to your current investments portfolio.

What is the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund?

The Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund is an actively managed equity fund. The objective of this fund is to provide long-term capital appreciation to investors by investing in equity instruments of companies that are part of the consumption theme or operate in sectors allied/related to the theme.

The minimum exposure of this fund to equity instruments of companies that are part of/allied to the consumption sector is 80% as per the fund’s mandate.

Key sectors that are considered part of the consumption theme in India include automotive and auto ancillaries, consumer services, consumer durable, fast moving consumer goods, financial, real estate, and health and wellness etc.

In the case of this actively managed fund, an experienced fund manager along with a team of analysts will be engaged in selecting and investing in stocks that are part of the consumption theme. Through active stock picking, this fund will attempt to outperform its benchmark the Nifty India Consumption Index.

As there is no historical performance data for the new Axis Max Life India Consumption Fund, the historical records of the benchmark Nifty India Consumption Index is used as a surrogate for the potential performance of this fund. The below table compares the performance of the Nifty India Consumption Index vs. the Nifty 50 Index over various time periods, as of 30 September, 2025:

Note: Returns data as of 30 September, 2025. The YTD and 1 year returns data are absolute returns of the TRI variant of the respective indices. The 5 year and returns since inception data shown above are CAGR returns of the TRI variant of the respective indices. Past returns do not guarantee future performance.

As you can see from the above chart, the Nifty India Consumption Index has managed to outperform the broad based Nifty 50 Index over various time periods. While this does not guarantee that the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund will be able to maintain the same level of outperformance, this does show the potential of the consumption theme-based stock picks to outperform a broad-based index such as the Nifty 50 Index leading to superior returns for investors.

What is the Nifty India Consumption Index?

The Nifty India Consumption Index will serve as the benchmark for the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund. So, one of the key goals of this actively managed fund will be to outperform the benchmark index over various time periods.

The Nifty India Consumption Index is a thematic index that comprises 30 stocks drawn from the Nifty 500 Index that are considered to be part of the consumption theme.

The top 5 stocks and their individual weight featured on this index as of 30 September, 2025 were as below:

As you can see, the top 5 stocks featured on the index, belong to a wide range of sectors such as Fast Moving Consumer Goods, Telecom, Automotive, etc., so the index shows high sectoral diversification.  But, these 5 stocks accounted for over 41% of the overall weight of the index. This means that the remaining 25 stocks featured in the index account for the remaining 49% of the index weight.

This indicates a significant degree of flexibility and the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund is also expected to have a diversified portfolio featuring stocks operating in or closely related to the consumption sector selected on the basis of the fund manager’s expertise and conviction.

What will the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund Invest in?  

The Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund is an actively managed equity fund focused on investing in companies that operate in or are closely allied to the consumption sector. The minimum portfolio exposure of this fund towards such stocks will be 80%.

Below are some examples of industries that are considered to be part of the consumption theme:

So, the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund is expected to primarily invest in stocks that belong to the above mentioned sectors and others that are considered part of the consumption theme.

Apart from belonging to sectors that are part of the consumption theme, the fund will also restrict its choice of stocks to only include companies that derive at least 50% of their revenue from their domestic operations within India.

Based on this selection criteria, the fund is expected to retain the flexibility to select and invest in a diversified portfolio of companies that are potentially well-placed to benefit from consumption-driven growth of India’s domestic economy.

Beyond the above-mentioned rules, since the fund is actively managed, the fund manager’s expertise and conviction will play a pivotal role in the stock-selection process of this fund.

Who Should Invest in the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund

The Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund is an actively managed equity fund that is classified as a high risk investment. So, while this fund might not be suitable all types of policyholders, below are some key types individuals who should consider investing this fund:

• Those seeking equity investments that have the potential of generating inflation-beating long-term returns
• Individuals who want to participate in and benefit from the consumption-driven growth of India’s domestic economy
• Investors who want to invest in an actively managed fund that leverages the skill and experience of a professional fund manager and team of analysts for long term wealth creation
• Individuals who have high risk appetite and are seeking to invest in a concentrated portfolio of stocks belonging to sectors that are considered part of the consumption sector, as described above
• Investors who can tolerate short-term volatility of investments and are seeking to stay invested for a period of 5 years or longer

The above list of the types of individuals who should consider investing in this fund is illustrative and not exhaustive. There may be many additional investor groups who may benefit from investments made in this thematic fund.

The investments made by the India Consumption Fund will be diversified across a wide range of industries within the consumption theme. So, this fund is expected to provide investors exposure to various industries including but not limited to retail, FMCG, automotive and auto ancillaries, consumer durables, hospitality, etc. This diversification across multiple industries is expected to reduce the impact of any specific sector on the overall performance of the fund.

How to Invest in the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund

New and existing Axis Max Life policyholders of can access the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund during the new fund offer (NFO) period through various ULIP products such as the:

• Online Savings Plan (OSP)
• Flexi Wealth Advantage Plan
• Capital Guarantee Solution*

Note: *Capital Guarantee Solution is a life insurance solution that provides life cover and helps you earn market-linked returns through a ULIP product such as Online Savings Plan, and offers the promise of guaranteed returns (equal to ROP) with a non-par savings product such as Smart Wealth Advantage Guarantee Plan.

All the above Axis Max Life ULIP products feature life cover as an in-built benefit. So, policyholders get the dual benefit of market-linked long-term returns and the protection of life cover through a single product.

Snapshot of the Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund

Investment Objective: The objective of the fund is to achieve long-term capital appreciation by investing in equity instruments of companies operating in the consumption sector and its related or allied industries.

Benchmark Index: Nifty India Consumption Index

Risk Profile: Very High

Asset Allocation of Fund:

ULIP Products for Initial Launch: Flexi Wealth Advantage Plan, Online Savings Plan and Capital Guarantee Solution (Online Savings Plan + Smart Wealth Advantage Guarantee Plan)  

NFO Period @ Rs. 10 per unit from 14 October 2025 to 26 October 2025

Additional Options to Diversify Your Portfolio with Axis Max Life Funds

In addition to the newly launched Axis Max Life India Consumption Opportunities Fund, below are some other Axis Max Life funds that policyholders can avail through various ULIP plans to diversify their investment portfolio:

Smart Innovation Fund

This is an actively managed equity fund that aims to deliver long-term capital appreciation by primarily investing in companies that benefit from the evolving innovation ecosystem. The Nifty 500 TRI serves as the benchmark for this index and since innovation is not industry/sector or market cap – specific, this fund’s portfolio features a high degree of diversification.

As per mandate, equity investments must comprise at least 70% of the fund portfolio, while the remainder of the portfolio (up to 30%) may comprise government securities, corporate bonds and money market instruments/equivalents.

Sustainable Wealth 50 Index Fund

This is a passively managed equity fund that replicates and tracks the performance of the NSE-managed Axis Max Life proprietary index, the Sustainable Wealth Index. The NSE 500 Index serves as the stock universe for this fund and selection of stocks is based on Dividend Yield for financial companies and free cash flow (FCF) yield for non-financial companies.

As per mandate, minimum 80% portfolio exposure to equities is to be maintained, while the remaining 20% of investible assets may be allocated towards money market instruments/equivalents.

High Growth Fund

This actively managed equity fund is primarily focused on making mid-cap stock investments to provide long-term capital appreciation to policyholders. However even with this midcap focus, the overall portfolio retains an overall multi-cap portfolio orientation.

The NSE Midcap 100 Index serves as the benchmark for this fund and as per mandate, minimum 70% allocation towards equities must be maintained at all times. Apart from equities, this fund also retains the flexibility to invest in government securities, corporate bonds and money market instruments or equivalent.

Moneycontrol Journalists are not involved in creation of this article.