Nifty Midcap 150 index funds compared: costs and tracking

The question

Fifteen open-ended index funds now track the Nifty Midcap 150, the 150 companies ranked 101 to 250 by market value. They hold the same stocks in the same weights, so the only things that can separate them are what they charge and how cleanly they copy the index.

This post lines them up. All figures are for the Direct plan, Growth option, computed from daily NAVs to Friday 9 October 2026. Returns of a year or more are annualised. Momentum and quality versions of the index (Midcap150 Momentum 50, Midcap150 Quality 50) are different indices and are left out.

The fifteen funds

TER is the latest Direct-plan expense ratio each fund disclosed, between 30 September and 8 October 2026. Assets are AMFI's average for July to September 2026, all plans together. Tracking error is the annualised spread of the fund's monthly return around the index's over the last 36 complete months, so only funds with about three years of history have one.

The money is concentrated. Of ₹11,711 crore in the fifteen funds, Motilal Oswal's holds 34% and Nippon India's 24%. Ten of the fifteen manage less than ₹500 crore.

How far each fund trails the index

The yardstick here is the Nifty Midcap 150 total return index, which adds reinvested dividends to the price index. We rebuilt it from NSE's daily closing level and dividend yield, the way our fund pages build their benchmark (the methodology page explains it). On that basis the index returned 0.50% over the year and 14.16% a year over three years. The price index alone returned −0.24% and 13.28%.

The gap between a fund and that total return is its tracking difference:

Figures are percentage points a year. Among the younger funds, the one-year gap ran from −0.40 (JioBlackRock) to −0.96 (Baroda BNP Paribas).

What stands out

Over three years, every fund trailed by more than its fee. Motilal Oswal charges 0.39% and trailed by 0.43 points a year over three years; HDFC charges 0.34% and trailed by 0.77. The rest is most likely cash held for redemptions, trading costs when the index changes, and any change in fees during the period. Some of it may be our rebuilt index, which spreads dividends evenly through the year rather than on the day each is paid.

Today's fee does not rank the funds. HDFC has the lowest TER among the seven with a three-year record and the second-widest gap. Motilal Oswal sits mid-table on fee and first on tracking. A TER is a snapshot taken this month; the return reflects three years of whatever was charged.

The spread is real money, but small. ₹10 lakh put into Motilal Oswal's fund on 9 October 2023 was worth about ₹14.71 lakh three years later. In Navi's it was about ₹14.58 lakh, roughly ₹13,000 less.

All seven funds with a tracking error sit well under 0.5%, which is the cut-off for our index funds that actually track screen.

What the fee gap is worth over ten years

Fees compound. Take ₹10 lakh and a hypothetical 12% a year before costs, held for ten years:

The gap is about ₹1.14 lakh, from a 0.43-point difference in fee and nothing else. The 12% is an assumption for the arithmetic, not a forecast; the impact of 1% calculator runs the same sum with your own figures.

The ETF route

Ten exchange-traded funds also track the index, with ₹6,954 crore between them. The largest, Nippon India ETF Nifty Midcap 150, averaged ₹3,850 crore and charges 0.24%. Mirae Asset's charges 0.17% and returned 13.84% a year over three years, ahead of every index fund. ETFs need a demat account and trade at a market price that can drift from NAV, a trade-off covered in index fund or ETF.

What this does not tell you

Whether a mid-cap index is the right holding. On 9 October the index traded at a P/E of 28.05; its history is on the Nifty Midcap 150 P/E page. Whether active mid-cap funds have done better is the subject of mid and small-cap: index funds against active funds.

How the young funds will track. Seven of the fifteen are under two years old. A one-year gap is a thin record.

Where NSE's own TRI would land. Our rebuilt index is close but not identical, so the gaps are best read against each other rather than as exact figures. The same exercise for the Nifty 50 is in Nifty 50 index funds: tracking error and the cost gap, and the basics are in the guide to index funds and ETFs.

Index levels are from NSE Indices and expense ratios from AMFI. The full list of passive funds is on the index fund page. None of this is a recommendation to buy or sell any fund.