Small Cap Fund

Small-cap funds have seen strong investor interest, but returns and volatility have varied sharply across the largest schemes. The top 10 funds by AUM are compared to see which delivered the strongest three-year and five-year returns and how their volatility stacked up.

Mid-cap and small-cap funds offer different risk-return profiles, but how do they compare on alpha? Here’s a look at benchmark-adjusted performance, negative alpha across schemes, and broader category trends.

Small-cap funds can differ sharply in how closely their portfolios resemble their benchmarks. But does a lower overlap translate into better returns? The latest data offers some surprising insights into the link between active bets and performance.

A ₹10,000 monthly SIP in small-cap funds grew to at least ₹8.12 lakh in five years, but the outcomes varied sharply across schemes. Bandhan Small Cap led the pack with over ₹10.35 lakh, while Tata Small Cap ended at ₹8.13 lakh, revealing a notable gap.

Small-cap funds have emerged as the best-performing equity category in FY27 so far, delivering an average return of 22.31% between 1 April and 31 July. They were followed by mid-cap funds with 17.22%, flexi-cap funds with 14.06%, and large-cap funds with 10.52% returns.

On average, active equity mutual funds have generated higher annualised returns while limiting losses better than their benchmark indices. An average active small-cap fund posted the strongest outperformance among the funds have been live since 2013.

After analysing the list of large-cap funds, no fund was found to have touched a Sharpe ratio of 1. Among the large-cap funds, WhiteOak Capital Large Cap Fund recorded the highest Sharpe ratio at 0.64.

Based on 10-year returns, Nippon India Small Cap Fund emerged as the best-performing diversified equity scheme, delivering a CAGR of 21.81% over the past decade. The rankings also highlight that Quant Mutual Fund had three schemes among the top five performers.

Several equity mutual funds have delivered strong returns over the past five years, despite periods of market volatility and uncertainty. Here’s a closer look at the top 5 diversified equity funds that have stood out in performance.

Nippon India Small Cap Fund is the largest open-ended small-cap mutual fund in India with an AUM of ₹72,673 crores. Here's a closer look at the fund's portfolio activity in May 2026, highlighting the stocks it added and trimmed during the month, along with its top 10 holdings.