#10YearChallenge is doing the rounds in the social media. Sure, the `then' and `now' photographs help most of us to realise how many kilos we have piled on in a decade. The challenge prompted us at Et.commutualfunds.com to find out how much fatter did equity mutual funds get in the last decade - in investor parlance, did these schemes reward their loyal investors handsomely in the past decade?
We stuck to open-ended equity mutual funds for study because 10 years is an ideal time period to check the performance of equity schemes. We excluded sector and thematic schemes from our study. We included large cap mutual funds, mid cap mutual funds, small cap mutual funds, large & mid cap mutual funds, and multi cap mutual funds. We also included value-oriented funds, focused funds and ELSS or tax-saving funds.
We were pleasantly surprised to find out that 70 equity mutual fund schemes multiplied investors' money by over five times. Two schemes grew over 10 times. Those who remained invested in these schemes for a decade without worrying about the short-term ups and downs in the markets would have multiplied their wealth many times.
Canara Robeco Emerging Equities Fund topped the chart. Anyone who would have invested Rs 1 lakh a decade ago would have made Rs 10.95 lakh in 10 years. The scheme multiplied the money almost 11 times.
The benchmark index - BSE Sensex - more than tripled to grow by 262 per cent in the last decade. BSE Midcap index quadrupled and grew by an absolute 333 per cent and BSE Smallcap index grew by 266 per cent in 10 years.
Some might argue that these gigantic returns are because the markets were at their lows in the beginning of 2009, the aftereffect of the crash of Lehman brothers in 2008. This is true. But since we are trying the 10-year challenge, we had to start from 2009. This is no bias on our part.
Also, historical data suggest that it is very hard for investors to stay invested in turbulent times. In 2008-09, equity mutual fund schemes continued to suffer through the year even as investors preferred to park their money in relatively safe and stable debt mutual funds. Equity schemes recorded inflows to the tune of Rs 2,104 crore in 2009, while income funds received investments of Rs 2,87,500 crore.
Moral of the story: if you don't flee the stock market during trying times, you will be able to make money in the long run. No wonder, those who survived the carnage in 2008, would be relishing their returns now.
See the table below for the list of 70 schemes. Table is sorted from highest to lowest absolute 10-year returns. We have also shown the 10-year SIP performance for the schemes.
| Scheme Name | Category | 10-yr absolute returns (%) | 10-yr CAGR returns (%) | Rs 1 lakh invested 10 years ago become (Rs) | Monthly SIP of Rs 10,000 (Rs 12 lakh in total) for last 10 years would become (Rs) |
| Canara Rob Emerging Equities Fund | Large & mid cap | 995.04 | 27.02 | 10,95,044 | 36,57,585 |
| DSP Small Cap Fund | Small cap | 920.76 | 26.14 | 10,20,763 | 33,35,307 |
| SBI Focused Equity Fund | Focused | 802.89 | 24.60 | 9,02,893 | 17,61,603 |
| Principal Emerging Bluechip Fund | Large & mid cap | 796.46 | 24.51 | 8,96,455 | 32,23,213 |
| Franklin India Smaller Cos Fund | Small cap | 796.28 | 24.51 | 8,96,278 | 32,39,923 |
| Invesco India Midcap Fund | Mid cap | 779.96 | 24.28 | 8,79,961 | 30,94,844 |
| Invesco India Multicap Fund | Multicap | 771.01 | 24.15 | 8,71,006 | 30,49,893 |
| HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund | Mid cap | 768.84 | 24.12 | 8,68,844 | 31,60,952 |
| ICICI Pru Value Discovery Fund | Value | 739.39 | 23.69 | 8,39,394 | 27,86,284 |
| L&T Midcap Fund | Mid cap | 738.03 | 23.67 | 8,38,025 | 32,03,324 |
| Franklin India Prima Fund | Mid cap | 737.81 | 23.67 | 8,37,814 | 30,67,382 |
| DSP Midcap Fund | Mid cap | 700.99 | 23.12 | 8,00,990 | 29,39,273 |
| Edelweiss Mid Cap Fund | Mid cap | 687.08 | 22.90 | 7,87,080 | 30,48,598 |
| Sundaram Mid Cap Fund | Mid cap | 684.66 | 22.86 | 7,84,663 | 28,54,202 |
| Mirae Asset India Equity Fund | Multicap | 665.54 | 22.56 | 7,65,539 | 28,76,245 |
| UTI Mid Cap Fund | Mid cap | 663.72 | 22.53 | 7,63,721 | 29,09,971 |
| BNP Paribas Mid Cap Fund | Mid cap | 635.16 | 22.06 | 7,35,156 | 28,53,164 |
| Reliance Multi Cap Fund | Multicap | 607.57 | 21.60 | 7,07,575 | 26,02,810 |
| SBI Magnum Midcap Fund | Mid cap | 604.79 | 21.55 | 7,04,789 | 27,45,915 |
| IDFC Multi Cap Fund | Multicap | 604.14 | 21.54 | 7,04,136 | 26,39,957 |
| Tata Mid Cap Growth Fund | Mid cap | 584.52 | 21.20 | 6,84,524 | 27,74,846 |
| HDFC Small Cap Fund | Small cap | 584.20 | 21.19 | 6,84,203 | 28,73,764 |
| Franklin India Focused Equity Fund | Focused | 583.28 | 21.18 | 6,83,284 | 15,43,276 |
| Aditya Birla SL Pure Value Fund | Value | 573.29 | 21.00 | 6,73,288 | 28,28,390 |
| Aditya Birla SL Small Cap Fund | Small cap | 573.05 | 20.99 | 6,73,053 | 26,94,558 |
| ICICI Pru Midcap Fund | Mid cap | 570.35 | 20.94 | 6,70,345 | 27,86,889 |
| IDFC Sterling Value Fund | Value | 570.11 | 20.94 | 6,70,106 | 26,88,896 |
| Kotak Emerging Equity Scheme | Mid cap | 559.09 | 20.74 | 6,59,091 | 29,40,883 |
| ICICI Pru LT Equity Fund (Tax Saving) | ELSS | 550.97 | 20.59 | 6,50,970 | 25,23,307 |
| Sahara Midcap Fund | Mid cap | 530.38 | 20.20 | 6,30,377 | 25,22,930 |
| Tata Equity P/E Fund | Value | 526.58 | 20.13 | 6,26,585 | 27,11,236 |
| Aditya Birla SL Midcap Fund | Mid cap | 521.01 | 20.02 | 6,21,013 | 25,48,098 |
| Kotak Small Cap Fund | Small cap | 518.49 | 19.97 | 6,18,490 | 26,33,498 |
| Invesco India Tax Plan | ELSS | 510.23 | 19.81 | 6,10,233 | 26,90,909 |
| HDFC Capital Builder Value Fund | Value | 509.46 | 19.80 | 6,09,462 | 26,07,068 |
| Reliance Focused Equity Fund | Focused | 507.85 | 19.77 | 6,07,849 | 15,26,711 |
| HDFC Equity Fund | Multicap | 499.94 | 19.61 | 5,99,938 | 23,83,774 |
| Aditya Birla SL Tax Relief '96 | ELSS | 492.09 | 19.45 | 5,92,092 | 26,63,961 |
| Quantum Long Term Eq. Value Fund | Value | 485.34 | 19.32 | 5,85,344 | 23,85,629 |
| Taurus Discovery (Midcap) Fund | Mid cap | 484.80 | 19.31 | 5,84,805 | 26,59,251 |
| HDFC Long Term Adv Fund | ELSS | 475.23 | 19.11 | 5,75,231 | 25,16,311 |
| Sundaram Small Cap Fund | Small cap | 472.81 | 19.06 | 5,72,814 | 23,87,881 |
| DSP Tax Saver Fund | ELSS | 470.58 | 19.01 | 5,70,584 | 25,76,012 |
| Canara Rob Equity Tax Saver Fund | ELSS | 466.49 | 18.93 | 5,66,488 | 23,74,305 |
| Tata India Tax Savings Fund | ELSS | 459.94 | 18.79 | 5,59,937 | 25,74,094 |
| Franklin India Taxshield | ELSS | 457.21 | 18.73 | 5,57,211 | 24,77,439 |
| ICICI Pru Bluechip Fund | Large cap | 455.90 | 18.70 | 5,55,903 | 24,46,557 |
| L&T Large and Midcap Fund | Large & mid cap | 455.35 | 18.69 | 5,55,350 | 24,20,226 |
| Aditya Birla SL Equity Fund | Multicap | 446.62 | 18.50 | 5,46,619 | 26,27,671 |
| SBI Large & Midcap Fund | Large & mid cap | 443.64 | 18.44 | 5,43,638 | 25,37,777 |
| Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund | ELSS | 440.54 | 18.37 | 5,40,544 | 24,18,724 |
| Canara Rob Equity Diver Fund | Multicap | 440.51 | 18.37 | 5,40,506 | 23,18,719 |
| Reliance Value Fund | Value | 436.36 | 18.28 | 5,36,363 | 23,70,761 |
| L&T Tax Advt Fund | ELSS | 433.36 | 18.21 | 5,33,358 | 24,73,907 |
| Aditya Birla SL Tax Plan | ELSS | 427.40 | 18.08 | 5,27,398 | 26,24,924 |
| Franklin India Equity Fund | Multicap | 427.39 | 18.08 | 5,27,391 | 24,51,670 |
| Franklin India Equity Adv Fund | Large & mid cap | 426.74 | 18.06 | 5,26,743 | 23,52,170 |
| Quantum Tax Saving Fund | ELSS | 425.31 | 18.03 | 5,25,306 | 23,56,403 |
| HDFC Top 100 Fund | Large cap | 423.82 | 18.00 | 5,23,820 | 22,91,527 |
| HDFC TaxSaver | ELSS | 422.48 | 17.97 | 5,22,484 | 22,33,447 |
| BNP Paribas Multi Cap Fund | Multicap | 419.44 | 17.90 | 5,19,443 | 23,99,260 |
| DSP Equity Opportunities Fund | Large & mid cap | 419.20 | 17.89 | 5,19,202 | 24,48,944 |
| Aditya Birla SL Frontline Equity Fund | Large cap | 418.27 | 17.87 | 5,18,272 | 23,89,440 |
| UTI Equity Fund | Multicap | 417.55 | 17.86 | 5,17,549 | 24,04,963 |
| Reliance Growth Fund | Mid cap | 415.06 | 17.80 | 5,15,063 | 23,32,482 |
| IDFC Tax Advt(ELSS) Fund | ELSS | 414.89 | 17.80 | 5,14,891 | 25,92,136 |
| ICICI Pru Multicap Fund | Multicap | 411.91 | 17.73 | 5,11,911 | 24,68,179 |
| Tata Large & Mid Cap Fund | Large & mid cap | 408.61 | 17.65 | 5,08,608 | 23,28,214 |
| Quant Focused Fund | Focused | 406.13 | 17.59 | 5,06,129 | 14,80,416 |
| Kotak Equity Opp Fund | Large & mid cap | 400.01 | 17.45 | 5,00,014 | 24,13,687 |
Source: Ace Equity