Pharma and healthcare stocks in mutual funds: 10%

The number

On 31 August 2026, equity mutual funds held ₹3,73,711 crore in Indian pharma and healthcare companies. That was 10.05% of everything they held in shares, and 9.57% of their net assets.

It splits into three industries, as the AMCs label them:

Pharma and biotech on its own is the second-largest industry in equity fund portfolios, behind only banks (₹6,34,394 crore) and ahead of non-bank finance and IT.

The data is the AMCs' monthly portfolio disclosures for 31 August 2026, read for 587 schemes in SEBI's equity categories, one row per scheme. Index funds, ETFs and hybrids are not included. A holding's rupee value is its weight times the scheme's net assets on that date. 502 of the 587 schemes held at least one of these companies.

Which companies

This sector is far less top-heavy than banks or IT. The ten largest positions add up to 45.01% of the money. In banks, the top two alone are 47.96%.

Four of the ten are hospital chains: Fortis, Max, Apollo and Aster DM Quality Care. Hospitals are a large part of why "healthcare" here is more than pharma.

Where the weight sits

Category holdings as a share of the category's net assets:

This is the reverse of the bank pattern. Large-cap and value funds hold the least pharma and healthcare, mid caps the most. Several of the sector's larger holdings are mid-sized companies. On BSE's figures for 1 October 2026, Ipca's market value was ₹49,219 crore, Gland Pharma's ₹47,418 crore and Fortis's ₹59,332 crore, against ₹4,34,269 crore for Sun Pharma.

The healthcare funds are almost entirely invested in it: Mirae Asset Healthcare Fund at 98.59%, and Nippon India Pharma Fund, the biggest of them with ₹9,051 crore in the sector, at 95.48%.

In rupees, though, the largest holders are diversified funds. HDFC Mid Cap Fund held ₹16,519 crore in pharma and healthcare, and HDFC Flexi Cap Fund ₹14,167 crore.

By weight, the most heavily invested diversified fund was NJ Flexi Cap Fund at 26.39%, followed by Invesco India Mid Cap Fund at 24.10%.

What this does not tell you

It is one disclosure. We have 31 August 2026 only. Nothing here says whether funds were adding to the sector or trimming it.

Labels are the AMCs'. A diagnostics chain or a pharma distributor may sit under Healthcare Services in one house's sheet and elsewhere in another's. We assign each company the industry most AMCs give it, which smooths that out but does not remove it.

Weight is not a forecast. A sector's share in fund portfolios is a fact about what managers held on one date. It is not a view on any company or fund, and not a recommendation to buy or sell.

Where to go from here

Each company's page lists the schemes that hold it, for example Sun Pharmaceutical Industries and Divi's Laboratories.

For the other big sectors, see bank stocks and IT stocks in mutual funds, or how large-cap and small-cap funds divide their money by sector.