HDFC Asset Management Company has appointed Ihab Dalwai as Senior Member Investments (Equity) from September 7, 2026, redesignating him Senior Fund Manager Equities from September 11. He joins from ICICI Prudential AMC.
A senior equity hire takes effect this week
HDFC AMC confirmed on September 9, 2026, at 3:21 pm IST, that Ihab Dalwai has come on board as Senior Member Investments (Equity), effective September 7. His title will formally change to Senior Fund Manager Equities from September 11, 2026.
The appointment brings a familiar face from a rival fund house into HDFC AMC's equity team. Dalwai moves from ICICI Prudential AMC, where he most recently held the position of Senior Fund Manager Equity. Moneycontrol had first flagged his likely exit from ICICI Prudential back in July 2026, and this week's announcement formalises that transition.
Who is Ihab Dalwai
Dalwai carries 15 years of experience across equity research and fund management. He is a Chartered Accountant, having qualified with ICAI in 2010, and has also cleared CFA Level 3.
He built his career almost entirely at ICICI Prudential AMC, joining the fund house in 2011 as an investment analyst before being promoted to fund manager in June 2017. Over roughly a decade and a half there, he moved up to manage a broad mix of equity and hybrid mandates, eventually overseeing around five funds within an AMC that manages approximately Rs 11.7 lakh crore in assets, making ICICI Prudential one of the country's largest fund houses by size.
Funds he will manage at HDFC AMC
At his new employer, Dalwai will handle the equity portion of a set of hybrid and multi-asset schemes. According to the appointment details, he will manage equity assets for:
- HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund
- HDFC Diversified Equity All Cap Active FOF
- HDFC Multi Asset Allocation Fund
- HDFC Multi-Asset Active FOF
- HDFC Aggressive Hybrid Fund
This is a notable mandate, given that HDFC Balanced Advantage Fund and HDFC Multi Asset Allocation Fund are among the AMC's larger and more widely held hybrid schemes. Investors in these funds will now have Dalwai contributing to equity allocation decisions alongside the existing fund management team.
What he managed before, at ICICI Prudential
Dalwai's departure from ICICI Prudential AMC was not sudden from an operational standpoint. Until May 2026, he managed the ICICI Prudential Balanced Advantage Fund, Infrastructure Fund, Large & Mid Cap Fund, Multi Asset Allocation Fund and Quality Fund, and was also involved with the newly launched iSIF Active Asset Allocator Long-Short Fund.
In June 2026, ICICI Prudential AMC issued a notice-cum-addendum reassigning these responsibilities ahead of his exit. Lalit Kumar took charge of the Large & Mid Cap Fund, Sanket Gaidhani took over the Infrastructure Fund, and Antariksha Banerjee assumed responsibility for the Multi-Asset Fund; Dalwai also stepped away from the Balanced Advantage Fund team at that point. The staggered handover meant that by the time his HDFC AMC appointment was announced, ICICI Prudential's affected schemes already had continuity in place under new fund managers.
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Second senior exit from ICICI Prudential this year
Dalwai's move is the second high-profile departure from ICICI Prudential AMC's equity leadership in 2026. Anish Tawakley, who had served as Co-Chief Investment Officer Equities, had earlier left the fund house to join DSP Mutual Fund as Chief Investment Officer.
Taken together, the two exits point to a period of change within ICICI Prudential's senior equity investment team, even as the AMC continues to manage one of the industry's largest asset bases.
Why this matters for HDFC fund investors
For unitholders in the affected HDFC schemes, a change in fund manager does not automatically change a fund's mandate, investment philosophy or category, but it can influence how equity allocation calls are made within hybrid and multi-asset structures over time. Balanced Advantage and Multi Asset Allocation funds, in particular, rely heavily on dynamic equity-debt rebalancing, making the equity fund manager's role fairly consequential to day-to-day positioning.
More broadly, senior fund manager movement between large AMCs like HDFC and ICICI Prudential is closely tracked by the mutual fund industry because performance track records are often closely tied to specific individuals. Investors evaluating these funds may want to keep an eye on any subsequent scheme-level communication from HDFC AMC regarding portfolio strategy under the new management structure, as such details typically follow in fund fact sheets or investor communications rather than in the initial appointment announcement itself.
