This article categorizes mutual funds based on relative performance, highlighting those offering lower returns at higher risk which can be potentially avoided by investors.
This article categorizes mutual funds based on relative performance, highlighting those offering lower returns at higher risk which can be potentially avoided by investors.
Disclaimer: The Fund names in this article are not recommendations to buy/hold/sell. Mutual funds are subject to market risks. Do not invest real money without adequate research.
The most basic and simplest equity mutual fund investment that an investor can make is a Nifty 50 Index fund.
Since a diversified index like the Nifty 50 is a decent representative of the stock market, since Nifty 500 and Nifty Total Market funds are quite new, and index funds tracking the Nifty 50 are quite common and popular, it makes a lot of sense to choose active funds that at least attempt to give better returns than the humble Nifty 50 index fund.
By better returns here, we mean, vs. the Nifty 50 index fund,
higher returns
lower risk (measured via volatility)
or both
Funds that donโt give either better returns or have higher volatility than index funds should be carefully reviewed to understand the reason for underperformance.
What is the concept of relative risk vs. return performance of mutual funds against the market benchmark?
If we split the list of all equity mutual funds then we will end up with four categories:
funds that give better returns than the Nifty 50 index fund but with lower risk which are ideal for any investor
funds that give better returns than the Nifty 50 index fund but with higher risk which are great for investors with high risk tolerance
funds that give lower returns than the Nifty 50 index fund but with lower risk which are good for debt funds
funds that give lower returns than the Nifty 50 index fund but with higher risk which is a terrible place to be for an equity fund
In this article, we will look at the latest list of equity mutual funds, including index funds tracking indices other than the Nifty 50, to check if they are in the worst category of lower returns and higher risk.
In the analysis below, we have chosen equity and hybrid mutual funds with worse returns at higher risk using the last three years of market data from AMFI for the period ending 17-Jan-2025. The funds that have fallen the most from their 52-week high levels are presented first.
Which mutual funds have lower returns at higher risk vs the broad market?
Note: This chart represents point-to-point data. The funds in the list will change over time as the future performance of any particular fund is random and cannot be predicted in advance.
Large & Mid Cap category
Fund
Fall
52w high NAV
NAV (17-Jan-2025)
Aditya Birla Sun Life Equity Advantage
-11.50%
1061.9200
939.8300
Sectoral Thematic category
Fund
Fall
52w high NAV
NAV (17-Jan-2025)
SBI Magnum COMMA
-14.09%
120.1465
103.2156
Kotak ESG Exclusionary Strategy
-12.88%
19.3890
16.8920
Axis ESG Integration Strategy
-10.84%
24.7200
22.0400
Aditya Birla Sun Life ESG Integration Strategy
-9.39%
20.0300
18.1500
Nippon India Japan Equity
-7.07%
22.1703
20.6033
Franklin Asian Equity
-6.87%
32.9471
30.6830
Aditya Birla Sun Life International Equity
-2.19%
38.7708
37.9205
Large Cap category
Fund
Fall
52w high NAV
NAV (17-Jan-2025)
PGIM India Large Cap
-15.08%
32.8200
27.8700
Axis Bluechip
-11.41%
72.9300
64.6100
LIC MF Large Cap
-10.09%
66.5642
59.8474
ELSS category
Fund
Fall
52w high NAV
NAV (17-Jan-2025)
UTI ELSS Tax Saver
-11.87%
246.1668
216.9358
Axis ELSS Tax Saver
-10.93%
113.6083
101.1868
Flexi Cap category
Fund
Fall
52w high NAV
NAV (17-Jan-2025)
Axis Flexi Cap
-9.95%
30.4600
27.4300
PGIM India Flexi Cap
-9.41%
43.4500
39.3600
UTI - Flexi Cap
-8.70%
360.1385
328.8214
Focused category
Fund
Fall
52w high NAV
NAV (17-Jan-2025)
Axis Focused
-11.86%
66.3700
58.5000
Index Funds category
Fund
Fall
52w high NAV
NAV (17-Jan-2025)
LIC MF BSE Sensex Index
-10.38%
170.6684
152.9552
HDFC BSE Sensex Index
-10.35%
805.0363
721.6756
ICICI Prudential BSE Sensex Index
-10.35%
28.0884
25.1826
Nippon India Index
-10.34%
45.7462
41.0166
Tata S&P BSE Sensex Index
-10.26%
225.7186
202.5605
Navi Nifty Bank Index
-9.89%
14.0786
12.6866
Motilal Oswal Nifty Bank Index
-9.85%
19.8419
17.8866
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Review existing funds: Investors should check if their current funds are on the list and evaluate their next steps, including consulting their advisor.
Bottom fishing opportunities: Funds in the list might represent bottom-fishing opportunities if you can make a case that the underperformance is a buying opportunity for a lump sum investment.
Exit active funds in the portfolio: This might be a good opportunity to move off to index funds to avoid future underperformance
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This post titled Which are the high-risk and underperforming mutual funds that can be avoided by investors? first appeared on 22 Jan 2025 at https://arthgyaan.com
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