This article analyzes the best and worst mutual fund performers over the past five years to answer one question: Were active funds worth the risk, or did index funds prove the safer bet?.
Disclaimer: The fund names mentioned in this article are not recommendations to invest/not invest in those funds. Please perform adequate due diligence before making any investments. Past performance does not give any indication about future performance. You can lose all or part of your capital in mutual funds.
The COVID-19-induced stock market crash around 23rd March 2020 was nothing unique. Such crashes are normal.
However, two remarkable things followed the market fall:
Why was the market recovery so fast after the COVID-19 crash?
The stock market crash of March 2020 saw the Nifty 50 and other indices plummet sharply. However, the recovery was surprisingly swift—within six months, markets had rebounded. This was driven by central bank stimulus, liquidity infusion, and increased retail investor participation. Unlike previous crashes, the 2020 rebound was one of the fastest in history, setting the stage for strong returns in select mutual funds.
The amazing recovery has led to eye-popping returns in some stocks (and as a result certain mutual funds). However, a list of best performers does not tell the complete story about the risks and rewards of active fund investing.
In this article, we have taken 5-year NAV data from AMFI and cherry-picked 23rd March as the starting date, which is the bottom of the market in the last 5 years to show the 10 best (and worst performing) equity mutual funds since then.
| Best lump sum returns | Amount made in ₹lakhs |
|---|---|
| Quant Small Cap Fund | 7.78 |
| Nippon India Small Cap Fund | 5.49 |
| Quant Infrastructure Fund | 5.15 |
| Quant Mid Cap Fund | 5.09 |
| Edelweiss Mid Cap Fund | 4.57 |
| Kotak Small Cap Fund | 4.50 |
| Quant Active Fund | 4.44 |
| Quant Flexi Cap Fund | 4.40 |
| Quant ELSS Tax Saver Fund | 4.39 |
| Franklin India Smaller Companies Fund | 4.36 |
| Best SIP returns | 5 year SIP returns |
|---|---|
| Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund | 28.62% |
| Invesco India PSU Equity Fund | 28.42% |
| ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Fund | 28.37% |
| LIC MF Infrastructure Fund | 27.29% |
| HDFC Infrastructure Fund | 27.22% |
| Franklin Build India Fund | 26.43% |
| Franklin India Opportunities Fund | 26.40% |
| Nippon India Power Infra Fund | 26.33% |
| Canara Robeco Infrastructure Fund | 25.77% |
| Bandhan Infrastructure Fund | 25.63% |
| Best step-up SIP returns | 5 year SIP returns (10% step-up) |
|---|---|
| ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Fund | 32.43% |
| Quant Small Cap Fund | 31.84% |
| Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund | 31.66% |
| HDFC Infrastructure Fund | 30.44% |
| Bandhan Infrastructure Fund | 29.86% |
| Franklin Build India Fund | 29.68% |
| LIC MF Infrastructure Fund | 29.54% |
| Nippon India Power Infra Fund | 29.27% |
| Invesco India PSU Equity Fund | 29.11% |
| Canara Robeco Infrastructure Fund | 28.88% |
Related:
Does a step-up SIP provide a higher return than an ordinary SIP?
| Worst lump sum returns | Amount made in ₹lakhs |
|---|---|
| LIC MF Banking And Financial Services Fund | 1.87 |
| UTI Banking And Financial Services Fund | 2.14 |
| Taurus Large Cap Fund | 2.15 |
| Taurus Flexi Cap Fund | 2.15 |
| PGIM India Large Cap Fund | 2.15 |
| Navi ELSS Tax Saver Fund | 2.18 |
| HDFC Housing Opportunities Fund | 2.20 |
| SBI Banking Financial Services Fund | 2.24 |
| ICICI Prudential FMCG Fund | 2.28 |
| UTI MNC Fund | 2.28 |
| Worst SIP returns | 5 year SIP returns |
|---|---|
| ICICI Prudential FMCG Fund | 8.60% |
| UTI Flexi Cap Fund | 9.19% |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life Digital India Fund | 9.83% |
| UTI MNC Fund | 10.23% |
| LIC MF Banking And Financial Services Fund | 10.72% |
| LIC MF Large Cap Fund | 10.92% |
| LIC MF Flexi Cap Fund | 10.97% |
| PGIM India Large Cap Fund | 11.17% |
| ICICI Prudential Technology Fund | 11.47% |
| UTI Large Cap Fund | 11.51% |
| Worst step-up SIP returns | 5 year SIP returns (10% step-up) |
|---|---|
| ICICI Prudential FMCG Fund | 11.03% |
| UTI MNC Fund | 11.88% |
| UTI Flexi Cap Fund | 12.16% |
| LIC MF Flexi Cap Fund | 12.76% |
| LIC MF Large Cap Fund | 13.02% |
| LIC MF Banking And Financial Services Fund | 13.23% |
| PGIM India Large Cap Fund | 13.40% |
| UTI India Consumer Fund | 13.96% |
| UTI Large Cap Fund | 14.11% |
| HDFC Housing Opportunities Fund | 14.28% |
While none of the SIP return numbers are something you should scoff at, they are bad only when compared to the best fund tables.
| Lump sum returns from Index funds | Amount made in ₹lakhs |
|---|---|
| UTI Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 2.57 |
| DSP Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 2.54 |
| ICICI Prudential Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 2.54 |
| Bandhan Nifty 50 Index Fund | 2.37 |
| UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund | 2.35 |
| Nippon India Index Fund Nifty 50 | 2.35 |
| SBI Nifty Index Fund | 2.34 |
| LIC MF Nifty 50 Index Fund | 2.32 |
| Franklin India Index Fund NSE Nifty 50 Index Fund | 2.32 |
| Taurus Nifty 50 Index Fund | 2.32 |
| Nippon India Index Fund BSE SENSEX | 2.27 |
| LIC MF BSE SENSEX Index Fund | 2.25 |
Unlike today, there were a limited number of index funds in March 2020. This is the complete list.
| SIP returns from Index funds | 5 year SIP returns |
|---|---|
| UTI Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 12.66% |
| DSP Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 12.64% |
| ICICI Prudential Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 12.49% |
| Bandhan Nifty 50 Index Fund | 9.70% |
| UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund | 9.67% |
| Nippon India Index Fund Nifty 50 | 9.66% |
| SBI Nifty Index Fund | 9.66% |
| Franklin India Index Fund NSE Nifty 50 Index Fund | 9.60% |
| LIC MF Nifty 50 Index Fund | 9.59% |
| Nippon India Index Fund BSE SENSEX | 9.03% |
| LIC MF BSE SENSEX Index Fund | 8.87% |
| Taurus Nifty 50 Index Fund | 8.82% |
| Step-up SIP returns from Index funds | 5 year SIP returns (10% step-up) |
|---|---|
| DSP Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 16.95% |
| UTI Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 14.98% |
| ICICI Prudential Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | 14.81% |
| Bandhan Nifty 50 Index Fund | 12.50% |
| UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund | 12.47% |
| Nippon India Index Fund Nifty 50 | 12.44% |
| SBI Nifty Index Fund | 12.44% |
| Franklin India Index Fund NSE Nifty 50 Index Fund | 12.33% |
| LIC MF Nifty 50 Index Fund | 12.33% |
| Nippon India Index Fund BSE SENSEX | 11.72% |
| Taurus Nifty 50 Index Fund | 11.72% |
| LIC MF BSE SENSEX Index Fund | 11.53% |
No investor, unless they had divine guidance, invested in the best funds in the list above knowing they would give the best returns 5 years later. The exact same logic goes for the worst funds.
Therefore, there was no way to predict, in March 2020, when these investments would have been started, which fund would end up in which table: best or worst.
There are no index funds in either the best or worst fund lists. This makes a strong case again for only index fund investing since you trade off the risk of falling into the worst return category by knowingly forgoing the returns from the best.
Published: 24 March 2025
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This post titled Which are the best and worst performing mutual funds 5 years after the COVID-19 crash? first appeared on 22 Mar 2025 at https://arthgyaan.com
