Where a fund ranks among its peers: a large-cap example

The problem

"9.79% a year over five years" means little on its own. Is that good for a large-cap fund? Is the fund near the top of its peer group, or did the whole category do that? The site has three places that answer this, at three levels of detail. This post walks through them for one fund, ICICI Prudential Large Cap, with figures as of the close on Friday 9 October 2026.

Level one: the category against other categories

Start at /categories. It lists every sub-category grouped by asset class, with the average trailing returns of its funds, so you can see how the whole category did before judging one fund in it.

The context matters this year. Across Direct Growth plans in our data, the average large-cap fund returned about −5.2% over the past year, against roughly −1% for flexi caps, +2.9% for mid caps and +10.4% for small caps. Over five years the large-cap average was about 7.8% a year. So a large-cap fund with a negative year is not unusual; what matters is where it sits within that group.

Level two: the category page

Best Large Cap Mutual Funds ranks the category's Direct Growth plans by 3-year CAGR and shows the fund count, the category's average 3-year return and its average expense ratio at the top. Each row carries the star rating, 1Y, 3Y and 5Y returns, expense ratio and AUM.

ICICI Prudential Large Cap sits around 11th by 3-year return, at 9.70%. That position is easy to misread. The table is sorted on one window, so a fund can sit mid-table while ranking near the top on another. Click the 5Y header and it moves up sharply.

Level three: the fund's own page

On the fund page, three sections place it among its peers.

Returns vs category sets the fund against the average of its sub-category peers for each period, with the difference:

Category rank turns the same comparison into ranks, against 34 large-cap peers with computed metrics. Each tile shows "Beats X%" and a rank:

The rank is out of the funds that have that metric, which is why the denominator shrinks from 33 to 27 as the window lengthens: younger funds drop out. A rank of 4 among 27 funds with five years of history is a different claim from a rank of 4 among 33.

Peer comparison then lines the fund up beside named peer-group funds on rating, returns, portfolio P/E, expense and AUM, with a link to the full compare view.

Reading the result

Put together, the three levels say something specific. ICICI Prudential Large Cap has had a poor recent stretch: bottom tenth of large caps over one year, and behind the average over three and six months. Over five years it is near the top, behind only Nippon India Large Cap at 11.43%, Invesco India Large Cap at 10.07% and Taurus Large Cap at 9.80%. Its risk-adjusted ranks, the Sharpe and Sortino tiles, sit in between.

Its five stars come from the star rating, which ranks 30 large caps with a three-year record on a blend of performance (60%), volatility, worst fall and cost. Its percentiles are 72.4 on performance, 87.5 on volatility, 79.3 on downside and 59.4 on cost, enough for a top-tenth composite. The 1-year slump barely enters, because the rating is built on three-year figures. Five-star mutual funds: what the ratings show explains the bands.

Cost is the weakest of the four. At 1.01% on the Direct plan, it misses the Five-star & cheap screen, which asks for under 1%, by one basis point. The cheapest large caps in our data charge 0.32% (Parag Parikh Large Cap, eight months old) and 0.63% (Canara Robeco Large Cap).

The rule of thumb

Read ranks from the longest window down, and always with the denominator. Check the category's own return first, so a fund is judged against its real alternatives. A rank that changes sharply between windows is telling you the fund's style was out of favour recently, not that the long record was wrong, or the reverse.

Pitfalls

• One sort order. Category pages sort by 3-year CAGR. Re-sort before concluding anything.
• Small denominators. In thin sub-categories, a rank of 2 may be out of six funds. The card hides itself when fewer than five peers have metrics.
• Ranks without size. At ₹79,821 crore of AUM in AMFI's July to September 2026 data, this is the largest large-cap fund in our list; size shapes what a manager can do, and a rank does not show it.
• Mixing plans. Ranks compare Direct with Direct and Growth with Growth. A Regular plan is ranked among Regular plans.

For how these large caps fared against the index itself, see large-cap funds vs the Nifty 50 over five years.

What the numbers do not tell you

Ranks are relative. A fund can rank first in a category that lost money, and a rank says nothing about whether the category suits you. Every figure here is computed from AMFI NAV history; the methodology page explains the formulas and the star bands. Nothing here is a recommendation about ICICI Prudential Large Cap or any other fund.