Equity fund scorecard, February 2026: mid caps lead

February in one line

The median equity fund gained 1.08% in February 2026, while the Nifty 50 lost 0.56% on its price. Mid-cap funds did best, with a median gain of 2.05%, and 30 of the 31 mid-cap funds with a full month of NAVs ended it higher.

It was not enough to undo January. Of 557 equity funds, 451 were still below where they started the year.

Every figure is for the Direct plan, Growth option, computed from daily NAVs. The month runs from the NAV of 30 January to that of 27 February, the last trading day of February. February and the year so far are plain percentage changes; one, three and five years are compounded annual rates.

The scorecard

Twelve SEBI equity categories, ranked by February's median return.

"Funds" counts every Direct Growth plan in the category on 27 February. A fund only counts in a period it has fully lived through: 546 have a full February, 505 a full year, 372 three years and 294 five. Contra has just three funds, so its row moves with any one of them.

Against the indices

Our estimates of each index's total return, built from NSE's daily price and dividend yield to the close of 27 February:

What the numbers show

Smaller companies carried the month. The Nifty Midcap 150 rose an estimated 1.72% while the Nifty 50 fell, and the fund medians follow the same order: mid caps first, large caps ninth of twelve. Ten of the 33 large-cap funds with a full month lost money, against one of 31 mid-cap funds.

The widest spread was inside one category. Sectoral and thematic funds ranged from −16.47% to +17.38% in a single month. The 12 technology and digital funds all lost more than 10%, as the Nifty IT index fell 19.54% on its price. The 18 pharma and healthcare funds all gained, with a median of 5.63%. Nippon India Taiwan Equity was the month's top equity fund at 17.38%.

The year so far is still negative almost everywhere. All twelve category medians are below zero for 2026, from −1.13% for dividend-yield funds to −3.08% for ELSS. The Nifty Smallcap 250 is down an estimated 4.70%, the worst of the four indices.

The long view still favours mid and small caps. Over three years the median mid-cap fund returned 23.54% a year, 6.43 points a year more than the median large-cap fund. Over five years small caps lead at 20.87% a year. Large caps are last on both.

A strong year sits behind the dip. Only 15 of 505 equity funds are down over one year, and the median is up 15.64%. That one-year window starts on 27 February 2025.

What this does not tell you

One month is mostly noise. A category's February rank says little about its March rank. The three- and five-year columns are steadier, and even they rotate over a decade.

The median hides the spread. Within most categories the best and worst funds are 5 to 10 points a year apart over three years.

The benchmarks are our estimates. NSE's official total return indices can differ from ours by a few tenths of a point a year. Past returns do not predict future ones, and nothing here is advice to buy or sell any fund.

Where to go from here

The categories page has live numbers for every SEBI category, and SEBI fund categories explained covers what each may hold.

For the month's market backdrop, see February 2026 in numbers. The sectoral and thematic fund page lists every theme fund behind the widest row in the table. For why one-month and five-year ranks disagree, read rolling vs trailing returns.