Best minus worst: the one-year gap inside each category

Same label, different year

A category label tells you what a fund may buy. It does not tell you how the year went. In the twelve months to 9 October 2026 the median large-cap fund lost 6.0%, but the best large-cap fund (Taurus) made 6.0% and the worst (Samco) lost 9.6%. That is a gap of 15.6 percentage points between two funds with the same label, the same benchmark type and the same rules.

This post measures that gap for every category with at least ten funds with a year of history. All figures are for the Direct plan, Growth option, computed from NAVs to 9 October 2026. Where a scheme appears twice under one name, the Growth plan without a reinvest ISIN is used, and ELSS series funds are left out.

The gap by category

Category	Funds	Worst	Median	Best	Gap (points)	Three-year gap (points)
Focused	28	−13.0%	−1.7%	24.4%	37.4	13.4
Small cap	31	−4.0%	10.1%	28.5%	32.5	13.6
Value	22	−9.9%	−3.0%	17.7%	27.6	14.0
Multi cap	32	−6.0%	3.1%	15.1%	21.0	9.3
ELSS	38	−11.2%	−3.9%	7.5%	18.7	16.7
Flexi cap	40	−8.5%	−1.3%	9.8%	18.3	12.3
Mid cap	31	−3.4%	2.8%	13.6%	16.9	12.9
Large cap	33	−9.6%	−6.0%	6.0%	15.6	6.9
Large & mid cap	33	−9.1%	−0.5%	6.3%	15.4	15.6
Dividend yield	10	−8.2%	−3.7%	5.6%	13.8	9.0
Aggressive hybrid	28	−7.3%	−1.8%	13.2%	20.5	11.3
Balanced advantage	36	−5.4%	−0.5%	8.6%	14.0	9.9
Multi-asset	30	−2.3%	4.9%	11.2%	13.5	14.7
Equity savings	23	−1.0%	2.5%	7.0%	8.0	6.3
Arbitrage	33	5.0%	6.6%	7.6%	2.6	1.0

The three-year gap is the difference between the best and worst three-year annual return among funds with that much history. Fewer funds qualify, so that column covers a smaller group in some rows.

Who sits at the ends

Category	Best fund (1 year)	Worst fund (1 year)
Focused	Motilal Oswal Focused Fund	Franklin India Focused Equity Fund
Small cap	Trust MF Small Cap Fund	HDFC Small Cap Fund
Value	LIC MF Value Fund	Quantum Value Fund
Multi cap	Groww Multicap Fund	HDFC Multi Cap Fund
ELSS	Quant ELSS Tax Saver Fund	Parag Parikh ELSS Tax Saver Fund
Flexi cap	ITI Flexi Cap Fund	Tata Flexi Cap Fund
Mid cap	HSBC Midcap Fund	Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund
Large cap	Taurus Large Cap Fund	Samco Large Cap Fund
Aggressive hybrid	Bank of India Aggressive Hybrid Fund	Invesco India Aggressive Hybrid Fund

One year is a short window. The same fund can sit at one end now and the other next year, so the table says what happened in one twelve-month window, not which fund is better. HDFC Small Cap Fund, for instance, is last in its category here but its loss is only 4.0%.

Why some gaps are wide

Focused funds are limited to 30 stocks, so a handful of positions can decide the year, and the category has the widest gap among diversified equity funds. Small-cap and value funds are next, which fits the idea that these are the categories where managers' choices differ most, though one year of data cannot prove it.

Large-cap funds are the tightest of the diversified categories over three years, at 6.9 points. Arbitrage funds are tighter still at 1.0 point, since they earn the spread between spot and futures prices and hold little else.

The sectoral category is its own thing

Sectoral and thematic funds had the widest gap of all: 227 funds, from −18.1% (ICICI Prudential FMCG Fund) to +127.7% (Nippon India Taiwan Equity Fund), a spread of 145.7 points. The category label covers everything from consumption to a Taiwan equity fund, so the number says the category is not one thing rather than that its managers differ by that much. Compare sector funds only within the same theme, as the sector and thematic fund returns do.

Using the spread

When the gap is wide, a category median describes few of its funds, and the choice inside the category matters more than the choice of category. When it is narrow, as in arbitrage or short-term debt, little rides on which fund you pick and cost becomes the main difference. For any one category, the screener lists every fund with its returns, risk and cost, and comparing two funds side by side shows what to read first.

Frequently asked questions

How much does picking the wrong fund in a category cost?

It depends on the category. In the year to 9 October 2026 the best and worst focused funds were 37.4 percentage points apart (+24.4% against −13.0%). In large-cap funds the gap was 15.6 points, and in arbitrage funds only 2.6.

Which equity category has the widest gap between funds?

Sectoral and thematic funds, because the category mixes unlike things: 227 funds from −18.1% (ICICI Prudential FMCG Fund) to +127.7% (Nippon India Taiwan Equity Fund). Among diversified categories, focused funds had the widest gap, then small caps (32.5 points) and value funds (27.6).

Is the gap between funds just a one-year effect?

Partly. For several categories the three-year gap is much narrower: large-cap funds' three-year gap is 6.9 points against 15.6 over one year. For others, such as ELSS (16.7) and large and mid-cap (15.6), it stays wide.

This is commentary on published data, not investment advice. WealthTicker is not a SEBI-registered adviser or distributor. Figures are WealthTicker’s own calculations from public data — AMFI’s fund NAVs and disclosures, NSE’s index and FII/DII files, and the fund houses’ monthly portfolios (how we calculate). They are as of the dates stated and can be revised by their source.

Keep reading

All posts Guides Open the screener