Red-hot mutual funds that've given 100%+ returns in 3 yrs

If you’ve grown up quoting Raju, Shyam and Baburao Ganpatrao Apte, you know exactly what I mean by “25 din mein paisa double”.

Now, while I am yet to stumble upon that scheme (or maybe I’m just not telling you), I do know of a few legit equity funds where investor money has doubled—or more than doubled—in just three years.

Actually, such funds are hardly rare. The small-cap fund universe alone has 17 funds—both active and index—that would’ve doubled your money in three years. Over in the mid-cap world, there are 23 such high-fliers.

Heck, forget the frontline funds for a second. There are sectoral and thematic funds by the dozen—too many to enumerate and too lazy to calculate—that would have doubled your money faster than you could track me down to thank me.

So why wait? Just dive into any of the top 10 small-cap, mid-cap or sectoral funds and boom, you are sitting on a steaming pile of hot cash. Or maybe, a steaming pile of hot ash.

Why hot ash?

Here’s the catch: These funds doubled investor wealth in the past. That doesn’t mean they’ll do it again. Remember the golden rule: Past performance ≠ future performance.

Secondly, equity funds don’t just go up, up and up. They zig, they zag and sometimes, they zig-zag so much that they go nowhere.

Take the Nifty PSU Bank. Looking at their recent performance, you’d think of them as the Universe Boss. The index gunned out over 30 per cent annualised returns, based on three-year monthly rolling returns. In layperson's terms, such funds would have more than doubled your money in three years.

But think long-term, and the picture changes. Based on a 10-year rolling return, the index grew just a shade over 2 per cent. That’s less than India’s inflation. Yep, even your vada pav got expensive at a faster rate than that.

The same is the case with small-cap funds. Feast one year, famine the next (we had covered this a couple of years back).

But why just single out these two categories? To be honest, you’ll find no high-flying equity fund that hasn’t gone through a dry spell.

What you should do

Here comes the boring (but important) part. But boring is great when it comes to investing.

Instead of chasing the flavour-of-the-season funds, ask yourself: “How long am I investing for?”

Then plan accordingly.

For example:

• Less than one year? Stick to liquid funds or high-interest savings accounts.
• 1-3 years? Consider short-duration debt funds.
• 5-7 years? Look at multi-cap or flexi-cap funds.
• 7 years+? Now you’re ready for small-cap and mid-cap funds—but only if you can stomach the ride.

Remember, the biggest “paisa double” trick isn’t chasing the hot funds. It’s time in the market that will help you get rich in a sustainable way. That’s not just Baburao's wisdom. That’s investing 101.

So, do you want clarity in your fund choices? Get expert-backed recommendations across every fund category—curated by our analysts, tailored for you.

Explore Value Research Fund Advisor today.

Also read: 6 large-cap funds turned ₹10K monthly SIP to ₹27L+ in 10 yrs