Fund style that tries to combine capital appreciation with current income rather than focusing on only one of those goals.
A growth and income fund is a fund designed to pursue both capital appreciation and current income in the same portfolio.
Instead of choosing only a growth objective or only an income objective, the strategy tries to blend the two through dividend-paying stocks, bonds, or other income-generating holdings that still leave room for portfolio appreciation.
A pure growth fund leans harder toward appreciation. A pure income fund leans harder toward current distributions. A growth and income fund sits between those poles and tries to make both objectives coexist.
That means it is often conceptually close to a balanced fund, but the emphasis is usually framed around investor objectives rather than a fixed asset-allocation formula.