ESG Funds: Max Life Insurance launches ‘Max Life Sustainable Equity Fund’

Sustainability is the key to future growth. This explains the increasing focus of companies on the use of renewable energy to sustain and maintain their growth. Following the trend, Max Life Insurance Company has announced the launch of Max Life Sustainable Equity Fund, a pure-equity ESG fund, to encourage investments in companies that focus on environmental, social, and governance factors.   

The Max Life Sustainable Equity Fund will invest in firms that maintain appropriate ESG scores. Linked with the Nifty ESG 100 Index the fund will focus on stocks that form part of benchmark ESG indices and will invest in companies with high ESG scores.   

Prashant Tripathy, MD and CEO, Max Life said, “There is a rapidly evolving customer segment with a bias for investing in ESG funds. As the preference grows, insurers must design products that allow customers to build wealth by investing responsibly. The ‘Max Life Sustainable Equity Fund’ is a thematic offering that invests in socially responsible companies and evaluates environmental, social and governance standards as part of the investment process. This fund is in line with our transformational, long-term ESG strategy, which is reflective of our purpose and ambition to address ESG goals and drive meaningful impact in the Indian life insurance industry.”  

As per market analysis, the Nifty ESG Index has outperformed the Nifty 100 Index for the past five years. ESG mutual funds have on an average delivered 9 per cent p.a. returns in the last 1 year. For the period of 3 and 5 years annualized returns are 15 per cent and 9 per cent.  

“The first pillar of any business is its financial metrics, the second being environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors, the third being business sustainability along with the impact that the business is creating. Investment professional managers must understand how to integrate the ESG factors while assessing industries to realise their intrinsic value. This explains the focus on investing in high-growth companies underpinned by technology, innovation and sustainability for a more accessible, efficient and resilient future. So, this is our strategy and we believe that these themes are very long-term themes,” Nakul Zaveri, Managing Partner, Relativity Investment Advisors, a sustainability-focused private equity strategy sponsored by the TRUST Group, told Business Today.   

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