What the screen asks for
The consistent compounders screen is the first card in the screener's Popular row. Its rule has three parts:
- a CAGR above 15% over the last three years,
- a CAGR above 15% over the last five years, and
- assets under management above ₹1,000 crore.
The page applies a few rules of its own on top. It looks only at Direct plans, Growth option, so each fund appears once. It leaves out ETFs, segregated portfolios and schemes that have stopped publishing a NAV. It ranks what passes by five-year CAGR and shows the top 20. The AUM figure is the scheme's average for July to September 2026 as AMFI reports it, all plans together.
The idea is sound. A three-year number alone rewards a fund that had one good stretch; a five-year number alone can hide a fund that has faded. Asking for both screens out some of each, and the size floor keeps out funds whose record was built on a small base.
How many pass
As of NAVs to 9 October 2026 (a day earlier for some overseas funds), 58 funds pass.
For scale, the UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund returned 5.90% a year over three years and 5.71% over five. At 15% a year, ₹1 lakh becomes ₹2.01 lakh in five years; at 5.71% it becomes ₹1.32 lakh. The bar is about two and a half times the index's rate.
The top ten are gold and US funds
The screen does not ask what kind of fund it is looking at, and the ranking shows it.
| Rank | Fund | Type | 3Y CAGR | 5Y CAGR | AUM (₹ Cr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mirae Asset NYSE FANG+ ETF FoF | US tech feeder | 66.27% | 39.88% | 2,707 |
| 2 | DSP World Gold Mining Overseas Equity Omni FoF | Gold miners | 58.16% | 28.56% | 1,654 |
| 3 | SBI Gold Fund | Gold FoF | 35.97% | 24.86% | 16,897 |
| 4 | HDFC Gold ETF Fund of Fund | Gold FoF | 35.85% | 24.79% | 11,865 |
| 5 | ICICI Prudential Gold ETF FoF | Gold FoF | 35.89% | 24.78% | 6,850 |
| 10 | Motilal Oswal Nasdaq 100 FoF | US tech feeder | 38.92% | 23.94% | 8,257 |
Ranks 6 to 9 are four more gold fund-of-funds, from Axis, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Nippon India and Kotak, between 24.52% and 24.72%. Seven gold funds within 0.34 points of one another are one asset counted seven times. The gold and silver price page and our post on gold fund-of-funds cover what drove it.
Across all 58:
- 37 equity funds: 17 sectoral or thematic (seven infrastructure, four healthcare, three PSU), 7 mid cap, 7 small cap, 3 large & mid cap, and one each of flexi cap, multi cap and ELSS.
- 16 fund-of-funds: seven gold, one gold-mining and eight US or global equity feeders.
- 2 index funds, both tracking US indices, plus 2 solution-oriented funds and 1 multi-asset hybrid.
So 18 of the 58 are gold or overseas funds.
The diversified funds that pass
Strip out the gold, overseas and sector funds and 20 diversified equity funds remain. The ten with the highest five-year CAGR:
| Fund | Category | 3Y CAGR | 5Y CAGR | AUM (₹ Cr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Motilal Oswal Midcap | Mid cap | 18.23% | 19.12% | 40,809 |
| Bank of India Small Cap | Small cap | 21.74% | 19.00% | 3,105 |
| Invesco India Small Cap | Small cap | 21.54% | 18.48% | 15,129 |
| Bandhan Small Cap | Small cap | 23.07% | 18.22% | 32,794 |
| Motilal Oswal Large and Midcap | Large & mid | 20.95% | 18.11% | 19,326 |
| Quant Small Cap | Small cap | 17.46% | 18.11% | 35,054 |
| Invesco India Mid Cap | Mid cap | 22.15% | 17.75% | 15,234 |
| ITI Small Cap | Small cap | 23.32% | 17.51% | 3,533 |
| HDFC Mid Cap | Mid cap | 15.88% | 16.91% | 1,05,346 |
| Motilal Oswal ELSS Tax Saver | ELSS | 20.47% | 16.59% | 4,948 |
The only flexi cap fund in the whole list is Bank of India Flexi Cap, at 18.65% over three years and 15.49% over five. Of 27 flexi cap funds with a five-year record, two cleared 15% over five years. The Bank of India Small Cap vs Bandhan Small Cap page puts two of these side by side.
What it leaves out
Large caps, completely. The best large-cap fund made 13.29% a year over three years and 11.43% over five. No fund built on the 100 biggest companies came near 15%.
Debt funds, which cannot reach 15%.
Young funds. 49 funds of ₹1,000 crore or more beat 15% over three years but have not been around for five, so the screen cannot see them.
Small funds. 14 funds cleared both return hurdles with less than ₹1,000 crore in assets.
Near misses. Among funds above the size floor, 42 beat 15% over three years but not five, and 10 beat it over five but not three.
How to read it
Two windows are not a consistency test. The three-year window sits inside the five-year one, and both end on 9 October 2026. A fund can pass on one strong run. Rolling returns are the better check: the average of every three-year window is below 15% for 9 of the 58. For the seven gold funds it is 11.4% to 11.6%, against a current three-year figure near 36%. Our guide to rolling vs trailing returns and the post on rolling 5-year returns by category explain why the trailing number can flatter.
Return alone ignores the ride. Nothing here looks at max drawdown or volatility. For return per unit of risk, see risk-adjusted returns.
The list changes daily. The screen reruns on each day's NAVs and the AUM updates each quarter, so a fund near 15% can drop out or come back within weeks.
These are past returns from the funds' own NAVs. A screen is a way to narrow a long list, not a verdict on any fund, and none of this is a recommendation to buy or sell one.
Frequently asked questions
How many mutual funds returned more than 15% a year over both 3 and 5 years?
As of NAVs to 9 October 2026, 58 Direct plans with average assets above ₹1,000 crore beat 15% a year over both three and five years. Another 14 cleared both return hurdles but were smaller than ₹1,000 crore.
Why are gold funds at the top of the consistent compounders screen?
The screen ranks by five-year CAGR and does not restrict the category. Gold fund-of-funds returned about 24.5% to 24.9% a year over five years and about 35% to 36% over three, so seven of them sit at ranks 3 to 9. Their average three-year rolling return since 2013 is only about 11.4% to 11.6%.
Does any large-cap fund pass the consistent compounders screen?
No. The best large-cap fund's three-year CAGR is 13.29% and the best five-year CAGR is 11.43%, both under the 15% bar. A Nifty 50 index fund returned 5.90% a year over three years and 5.71% over five.
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
Decade compounders: 69 funds beat 15% a year for 10 years
69 funds of ₹1,000 crore or more compounded above 15% a year over the ten years to October 2026. No large-cap or index fund made it; Quant has 9 of the 69.
Falls less than it rises: 74 funds, 29 pharma or hybrid
74 funds caught over 95% of their benchmark's rising months and under 85% of its falls. 14 of 15 pharma funds pass; 3 of 97 large, mid and flexi caps do.
Low-drawdown equity screen: why 29 of 31 funds are young
31 equity funds beat 12% a year over 3 years without ever falling 20%. 29 began after the 2020 crash; of 279 older funds, only 3 never fell 20%.