What the screen asks for
The decade compounders screen, in the screener's Long-term wealth group, has a short rule:
- a ten-year CAGR above 15%, and
- assets under management above ₹1,000 crore.
The page looks only at Direct plans, Growth option, and leaves out ETFs and schemes that have stopped publishing a NAV. It ranks what passes by ten-year CAGR. The return runs from 9 October 2016 to 9 October 2026 on each fund's own NAVs; the AUM is the scheme's average for July to September 2026 as reported by AMFI, all plans together.
Ten years is long enough to include at least one real crash. This window holds March 2020, when the UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund fell 38.42% from its peak, and the falls that followed the index's peaks of September 2024 and January 2026. A fund that compounded above 15% through all of that did not get there on one good year.
How many pass
Of 563 Direct funds outside ETFs with a ten-year record, 78 beat 15% a year. Nine of those manage less than ₹1,000 crore, which leaves 69 as of NAVs to 9 October 2026.
For scale, the Nifty 50 index fund above returned 11.02% a year over the same decade. Run through the lump sum calculator, ₹1 lakh grows to about ₹2.84 lakh at that rate, ₹4.05 lakh at 15%, and ₹6.47 lakh at the 20.52% of the fund at the top. About four points a year, held for a decade, makes the corpus 42% larger; the magic of compounding explains why.
| Fund | 10Y CAGR | Avg 10Y rolling | 5Y CAGR | Worst fall | AUM (₹ Cr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quant Small Cap | 20.52% | 19.79% | 18.11% | -46.7% | 35,054 |
| Nippon India Small Cap | 20.23% | 24.67% | 17.13% | -48.6% | 80,841 |
| Quant Infrastructure | 19.71% | 20.57% | 16.37% | -46.0% | 3,176 |
| Quant ELSS Tax Saver | 19.41% | 22.77% | 13.91% | -36.1% | 13,377 |
| DSP US Specific Equity Omni FoF | 19.31% | 15.35% | 19.63% | -28.1% | 1,279 |
| Axis Small Cap | 18.92% | 20.98% | 14.39% | -34.6% | 30,705 |
| Invesco India Mid Cap | 18.61% | 20.64% | 17.75% | -34.1% | 15,234 |
| Quant Flexi Cap | 18.42% | 21.18% | 12.62% | -41.3% | 7,340 |
| Quant Multi Asset Allocation | 18.30% | 17.09% | 18.48% | -32.6% | 6,467 |
| Invesco India Infrastructure | 18.27% | 19.76% | 17.38% | -36.2% | 1,539 |
"Avg 10Y rolling" is the average of every ten-year window the Direct plan has completed, one per month. Direct plans date from January 2013 or later, so those windows end no earlier than January 2023. "Worst fall" is the deepest drop from a peak over the fund's whole history.
What fills the list
- 56 equity funds: 22 sectoral or thematic (eight infrastructure, five technology), 10 mid cap, 9 small cap, four each of flexi cap, ELSS and large & mid cap, and one each of contra, multi cap and focused.
- 11 fund-of-funds: seven gold, one gold-mining and three US or global equity.
- 2 hybrids, both from Quant.
Quant has 9 of the 69, more than any other house; ICICI Prudential has 6. The largest fund in the list is Parag Parikh Flexi Cap, with ₹1,47,064 crore and 16.45% a year, followed by HDFC Flexi Cap and HDFC Mid Cap, each above ₹1 lakh crore.
What it leaves out
Large-cap funds. The best ten-year CAGR among them is 13.52%.
Index funds. None of the 16 with a ten-year record reached 15%.
Debt and most hybrids. None of 188 debt funds with a ten-year record passed, and only two hybrids did, both from Quant.
Anything under ten years old, however strong, and the nine smaller funds that cleared the return bar.
What a ten-year number hides
The falls along the way. Every one of the 69 fell at least 24% at some point. The median worst fall was 36.2%, and the deepest, DSP World Gold Mining's, was 57.2%. The max drawdown column on each fund page is the honest companion to this screen.
A weak recent stretch. The five technology funds made 16.2% to 17.3% a year over ten years but only 1.6% to 5.9% over the last five. Tata Digital India shows 17.27% over ten years and 1.58% over five. In all, 10 of the 69 returned under 10% a year over the past five years. Our post on technology funds covers that slump.
The starting date. A trailing return depends on where the window begins. The seven gold funds show about 16% a year today, but their average ten-year window returned 10.75% to 10.99%, so today's figure sits well above their usual one. Nippon India Small Cap is the reverse, 20.23% now against a 24.67% average. Our guide to rolling returns and the post on large-cap rolling returns go further.
How to read it
Survivors only. Funds that were merged or closed during the decade are not in the data the screen can see, so the list describes winners that are still here.
The list moves daily. Each day's NAV shifts the ten-year window by a day, and AUM updates each quarter, so funds near 15% drift in and out.
Past returns are not a forecast. The next ten years start from different prices, portfolios and fund sizes. For an even longer view, see twenty years of equity funds.
This is a screen over past NAVs: a way to narrow a list, not a ranking of which fund to own, and none of it is a recommendation to buy or sell.
Frequently asked questions
Which mutual funds returned more than 15% a year over 10 years?
As of NAVs to 9 October 2026, 69 Direct plans with average assets above ₹1,000 crore had a ten-year CAGR above 15%. Quant Small Cap led at 20.52% a year, followed by Nippon India Small Cap at 20.23% and Quant Infrastructure at 19.71%.
Did any large-cap fund return 15% a year over ten years?
No. The best large-cap fund's ten-year CAGR is 13.52%. A Nifty 50 index fund, UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund, returned 11.02% a year, which turns ₹1 lakh into about ₹2.84 lakh; 15% a year turns it into about ₹4.05 lakh.
Did the decade compounders avoid big falls?
No. Every one of the 69 fell at least 24% from a peak at some point, the median worst fall was 36.2%, and the deepest was 57.2%. A high ten-year return came with deep falls along the way.
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.
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