Large-cap fund returns: 22 of 30 beat the Nifty 100

Where large caps stand

Over the three years to 10 March 2026, the median large-cap fund returned 15.50% a year. Of the 30 funds with a full three-year record, 22 beat our estimate of the Nifty 100's total return, 14.59% a year.

The picture changes with the window. Over ten years the median fund returned 13.96% a year and fewer than half beat the index.

All fund figures are for the Direct plan, Growth option, computed from daily NAVs to 10 March 2026. Returns of one year or longer are compounded annual rates; the March figures below are plain percentage changes.

The spread, period by period

There are 34 large-cap funds. A fund counts in a period only if it has a full record for it.

The worst one-year figure belongs to Samco Large Cap, which has barely a year of NAVs. Leave it out and the one-year range is 6.68% to 17.07%.

The middle half of funds sits within about 2.5 points of each other over three years. Large caps are a tight category: their portfolios all draw on the same hundred companies.

Top and bottom over three years

Nippon India Large Cap is first over three, five and ten years, the only fund to top all three. Axis Large Cap has the lowest five-year return in the category, 8.99% a year, but sits mid-table over ten years.

Against the index

SEBI benchmarks large-cap funds to the Nifty 100. We don't hold NSE's total return index, so we estimated one from the daily price and dividend yield, to the close of 10 March. The Nifty 50 is shown as a second yardstick.

Over one year the median fund matched the Nifty 100 almost exactly. Over three and five years most funds were ahead. Over ten years the median fund trailed the index by 0.14 points a year.

March so far

The first six trading days of March have been hard on the category. Between the NAVs of 27 February and 10 March, all 34 funds fell. The median lost 3.60%, in line with the Nifty 100's 3.63% price fall. Taurus Large Cap lost least, 1.59%.

For 2026 as a whole, the median fund is down 5.97%. The median fund's NAV is 7.23% below its all-time high, and the Nifty 100's close of 24,957.80 on 10 March is 8.43% below its record of 27,256.25, set on 26 September 2024.

The fall shows up most in SIP returns. A monthly SIP over the last three years has earned a median 7.66% a year, about half the lump-sum figure, because many of the recent instalments went in at prices above today's NAVs.

What this does not tell you

Trailing returns move with their end date. A fall like this month's knocks a point or more off every window at once. The same funds measured a month from now could look quite different.

The benchmark is our estimate. NSE's official total return index can differ by a few tenths of a point a year.

Survivors only. Funds merged away over these periods are not in the table, and they were rarely the strong ones. Nothing here is advice to buy or sell any fund.

Where to go from here

The large-cap fund page lists every fund with live numbers, and the steady large caps screen lists those that compounded above 12% a year over five years. For whether an index fund is the fairer comparison, read active vs passive investing.

How large caps compared with every other category in February is in the February equity fund scorecard, and the Nifty 50's P/E in March covers what the index itself is priced at.