Four biggest focused funds compared on return and risk

Why these four

Focused funds may hold at most 30 stocks, which makes each position count for more than in a diversified fund. Of the 28 focused funds with a published average AUM for the July–September 2026 quarter, these four are the largest: SBI Focused Fund, HDFC Focused Fund, ICICI Prudential Focused Fund and Franklin India Focused Equity Fund. Together they hold about ₹1,06,916 crore, 57.7% of the ₹1,85,222 crore the category holds. Every figure is for the Direct plan, Growth option, from NAVs to 2–3 November 2026.

SBI Focused alone holds more than a quarter of the category, and it is also the cheapest of the four by a hair.

Returns

Returns of a year or more are compounded annual rates. Three things stand out.

• Franklin India trails on every horizon. It is below the category median over one, three, five and ten years, by 9.41, 4.97, 2.35 and 0.26 points a year respectively.
• SBI Focused is the only one of the four positive over one year, at 5.77%, yet its five-year return (10.03%) is the second lowest of the four, below the category's 10.52% median. A fund can lead recently and lag over a longer stretch.
• HDFC Focused has the best five-year record, 16.18% a year, 5.66 points above the median.

Risk

Capture ratios compare each fund with the Nifty 500 TRI: an up capture of 100 means it rose as much as the index in the index's up months, and a down capture below 100 means it fell less in down months. The three largest funds all fell less than the index in down months (65, 71 and 87). Franklin India's down capture of 102 means it fell slightly more than the benchmark while capturing only 91 of its gains, which is the combination that shows up as a Sharpe ratio of 0.12.

SBI and HDFC had both the smallest worst falls (-12.9% and -14.0%) and lower volatility than the category median. Of the four, only Franklin India's worst fall matches the median's -17.8%.

Short-term moves

All four are down over three months, and only SBI Focused is up so far in 2026. A concentrated portfolio can move away from the index quickly in either direction, which is why the year-to-date range here runs from +2.60% to -11.30%.

What to check before choosing one

A focused fund is a bet on a manager's 20 to 30 best ideas. Before comparing returns, look at the fund's top holdings and how much of the portfolio they take; our post on how top-heavy equity funds are shows the typical share. Then look at the drawdown table above rather than the return alone, and see how Sharpe and Sortino rankings of equity funds differ. For the same exercise in other categories see the four biggest flexi cap funds and multi cap funds.