One table, five calendar years
Median calendar-year return of the Direct plan, Growth option funds in each category. A fund counts for a year only if it had a NAV in the last days of both that year and the one before, so the number of funds grows with time (for example multi cap rose from 7 funds in 2021 to 29 in 2025). Closed-ended ELSS series, which no longer take money, are left out. The last column is the year to mid-October 2026.
| Category | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 so far |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small cap | 63.3% | 1.4% | 43.0% | 26.7% | -2.8% | 12.5% |
| Mid cap | 47.6% | 4.0% | 39.2% | 30.4% | 2.9% | 1.8% |
| Multi cap | 49.1% | 5.3% | 33.6% | 24.0% | 4.3% | 1.5% |
| Large & mid cap | 39.8% | 3.0% | 31.3% | 25.1% | 5.9% | -2.6% |
| Value | 34.4% | 5.7% | 34.6% | 21.7% | 6.2% | -5.3% |
| Focused | 37.0% | 2.3% | 29.8% | 19.8% | 5.6% | -3.2% |
| Flexi cap | 34.2% | 0.7% | 29.5% | 19.5% | 5.2% | -1.9% |
| ELSS | 34.6% | 3.9% | 28.8% | 20.2% | 5.6% | -4.3% |
| Large cap | 28.5% | 3.0% | 24.6% | 16.3% | 9.0% | -8.2% |
Who won, who lagged
- 2021: small cap, 63.3%. Large cap trailed at 28.5%, a gap of 34.8 points between best and worst category.
- 2022: value, 5.7%. Flexi cap trailed at 0.7%. Every category was within 5 points of every other, the narrowest year in the table.
- 2023: small cap again, 43.0%. Large cap trailed at 24.6%.
- 2024: mid cap, 30.4%. Large cap trailed at 16.3%.
- 2025: large cap, 9.0%. Small cap trailed at -2.8%, the only negative median among the nine categories in any of the five years.
Two things stand out. The order is not stable: five years produced four different winners, and the category that won 2025 had trailed the field in three of the four years before. And a lull in one segment does not mean the others did well: in 2022 none of the nine medians went above 5.7%.
What 2026 looks like so far
To mid-October 2026 the order has turned over again. Small cap funds lead at a median 12.5%, ahead of mid cap (1.8%) and multi cap (1.5%), while large cap sits at the bottom at -8.2%. Large-cap funds therefore went from first to last, and small-cap funds from last to first, within about ten months. Our October scorecard has the trailing one-, three- and five-year versions, and the large cap and small cap notes name the funds behind the medians.
Why calendar years are a trap
A calendar year is a convenient reporting period, not a natural one. Moving the window by a few weeks can change a category's rank. That is part of why we also publish rolling and SIP-based views: SIP returns by category and rolling versus trailing five-year returns show how much the answer depends on the start date.
The table is also a description of funds that exist today. A fund that was merged or closed between 2021 and 2025 is missing from the earlier years' medians, which flatters them slightly.
What this shows an investor, and what it does not
It shows how far categories diverge. A portfolio tilted to one segment can look brilliant or poor in a given year without the investor having done anything different. The same lesson appears in the index view of each year since 2017.
It shows that yesterday's leader tells little about tomorrow's. Categories that led in one year were frequently at or near the bottom in the next.
It does not say what is coming. None of this is a forecast, and none of it is a recommendation to buy or sell any category or fund. The screener shows the return of every fund over any period you choose, and the asset allocation calculator is a place to start thinking about the mix.
Frequently asked questions
Which equity fund category did best in each year from 2021 to 2025?
By median calendar-year return among Direct plan Growth funds: small cap in 2021 (63.3%), value in 2022 (5.7%), small cap again in 2023 (43.0%), mid cap in 2024 (30.4%) and large cap in 2025 (9.0%). No category led three years.
Did large-cap funds lag in the good years?
Yes. Large cap had the lowest median return of the nine categories in 2021 (28.5%), 2023 (24.6%) and 2024 (16.3%). In 2025, when small cap funds fell, large cap had the highest at 9.0%.
What are these returns, exactly?
The change in NAV from the last trading day of the previous year to the last trading day of the year, for each Direct plan, Growth option fund in the category that had a NAV in the final days of both years, then the median across those funds. 2026 is the return from 31 December 2025 to mid-October 2026 (NAVs of 13–14 October).
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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