Are India's 2 most popular large-cap funds worth the hype?

Summary: In just September alone, the large-cap funds from Nippon India and ICICI Prudential grew by over Rs 1,000 crore each. Backed by strong long-term returns, they’ve beaten peers and benchmarks alike. But is this outperformance steady or just occasional? Let’s dig deeper.

When it comes to investing in equity mutual funds, few categories attract as much attention as large-cap funds. These funds invest in India’s biggest and most stable companies — think Reliance, HDFC Bank and Infosys — and form the foundation of countless investor portfolios.

But even within this elite club, a few funds stand out for the sheer scale of money they manage.

In September 2025, two large-cap funds alone added over Rs 1,000 crore each to their assets under management (AuM). AuM is the total market value of all investments that a fund manages on behalf of investors.

The two big gainers last month

1. Nippon India Large Cap Fund: Its AuM rose from Rs 45,012 crore to Rs 46,463 crore, a rise of Rs 1,451 crore in a month, making it the third-largest active large-cap fund in India.
2. ICICI Prudential Large Cap Fund: Its net assets increased from Rs 71,839 crore to Rs 73,034 crore, a gain of Rs 1,195 crore, making it the largest active large-cap fund in the country.

This growth isn’t just about investor interest; the duo’s performance has backed it up, too.

Over the last 10 years, between October 21, 2015 and October 21, 2025, both these funds were among the top performers in the category.

• Nippon India Large Cap Fund: 15.7 per cent annualised return
• ICICI Prudential Large Cap Fund: 15.4 per cent annualised return

Even over five years, they’ve stayed near the top, with Nippon India ranking second and ICICI Prudential fourth among all large-cap funds.

But are they consistent?

Point-to-point returns shown above can be misleading, as they only show how a fund performed between two dates. To judge true performance, you need to look at rolling returns, which average out returns over every possible five-year period.

When we checked five-year rolling returns between October 21, 2020 and October 21, 2025, the results were more clear.

Nippon India Large Cap Fund

• Average five-year rolling return: 16.95 per cent
• Benchmark (BSE 100 TRI): 15.8 per cent
• Standard deviation (volatility): 5.1 per cent vs benchmark’s 3.2 per cent

In short, while Nippon India beat its benchmark handily, it was also more volatile, meaning its returns fluctuated more sharply along the way.

ICICI Prudential Large Cap Fund

• Average five-year rolling return: 16.73 per cent
• Benchmark (Nifty 100 TRI): 15.39 per cent
• Standard deviation: 4.1 per cent vs benchmark’s 3.1 per cent

It also outperformed its benchmark but was slightly more stable than Nippon India’s fund.

In fact, among all large-cap funds, Nippon India and ICICI Prudential’s large-cap schemes ranked second and third in terms of aggregate five-year rolling returns. The top performer was Canara Robeco Large Cap Fund.

Even more impressive is the fact that these funds are among only eight large-cap funds that managed to beat the BSE 100 TRI’s performance, based on five-year returns calculated daily between October 21, 2020 and October 21, 2025.

So, should you invest in these two funds?

To decide that, you’ll need to look beyond just headline returns.

That’s where Value Research Fund Advisor — particularly the Analyst’s Choice section — comes in.

Fund Advisor doesn’t just stop at point-to-point or rolling returns. It digs deeper, assessing funds on parameters such as risk-adjusted performance, fund manager track record, and consistency in beating the benchmark. After all, true consistency isn’t about one or two strong phases. It’s about how often a fund delivers superior performance across market cycles.

Take the long-term data, for instance. Between October 21, 2020, and October 21, 2025, Nippon India Large Cap Fund’s five-year returns managed to beat its benchmark, BSE 100 TRI’s five-year returns, on only 49 per cent of days. Meaning, it underperformed its index slightly more often than it outperformed.

ICICI Prudential Large Cap Fund, meanwhile, did a bit better, surpassing its benchmark, Nifty 100 TRI, 53 per cent of the time.

So, does this occasional underperformance dull their impressive long-term numbers? Or do they still deserve a place in your core portfolio?

For the full picture — including which large-cap funds our analysts currently favour and why — head to Value Research Fund Advisor.

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Also read: Only 9 of 26 large-cap funds beat their benchmark. Own any?