Why this 5-star mid-cap fund's size has grown 7x in 10 years

Summary: In this article, we dig deeper by breaking down how often it has truly delivered strong returns, whether it actually beats its benchmark and how it performs when markets tumble and rise in relation to its benchmark. Plus, a peek at the five stocks that carry the most weight in its portfolio. HDFC Mid Cap Fund has quietly become a giant. With nearly Rs 84,000 crore in net assets, it’s now by far the largest mid-cap fund in India, almost seven times bigger than it was a decade ago. And it isn’t just size. The fund also carries a five-star rating from Value Research. The obvious question is, “Why have investors poured so much money into this one scheme?” The short answer is simple: performance. The return story Over the past three, five and 10 years, the HDFC Mid Cap Fund has delivered annualised returns of 25.79 per cent (third-best in the category), 29.61 per cent (fifth-best) and 19 per cent (sixth-best), respectively. But where it truly shines is for long-term SIP investors. Over ten years, its SIP return (XIRR) works out to 21.18 per cent. To put that in human terms: a monthly SIP of Rs 10,000 started 10 years ago would today be worth nearly Rs 36.7 lakh. Numbers like these explain why assets have ballooned. But the story doesn’t get over here. Let’s go deeper than trailing returns and look at the historical performance of the fund. Why rolling returns matter Trailing returns — the usual 3-, 5-