If you are planning to invest in a mutual fund, then it is recommended to examine the past returns of that scheme vis-a-vis other schemes in the same category. The past returns give a fair idea of how that scheme has performed over a period of time, thus giving an indication of its future prospects.
Meanwhile, experts often advise that the past returns are not the sole criteria which investors should examine. They are ideally expected to focus on other key factors such as the category the scheme belongs to, macro economic factors, fund house’s reputation, among other factors.
For those who are unaware a benchmark is a market index, or combination of indexes against which an investment portfolio’s performance is measured. For instance, for large cap funds, benchmark index is NIFTY 100 Total Return Index or BSE 100 Total Return Index. A large cap fund is a mutual fund which invests a minimum of 80 percent in large cap stocks.
Mid cap and small cap mutual funds are supposed to invest a minimum of 65 percent in mid cap and small cap stocks, respectively.
Here we list out the schemes which have managed to beat the benchmark returns
Large cap funds
(Source: AMFI; returns as on Dec 13, 2024)
As we can see in the table above, 14 large cap schemes managed to beat the benchmark index. One large cap fund delivered 31.20 percent in the past one year while others gave returns in the range of 24 to 30 percent.
(Source: AMFI; returns as on Dec 13, 2024)
There are around 17 schemes which have managed to beat the benchmark index. One mid cap scheme gave as high as 62 percent return while most other mid caps gave more than 30 percent return in the past one year.
(Source: AMFI; returns as on Dec 13, 2024)
There are seven small cap schemes which beat the benchmark return. The highest return was given by Bandhan Small Cap Fund which gave over 50 percent in the past one year.
Note: This story is for informational purposes only. Please speak to a SEBI-registered investment advisor before making any investment related decision.