Best Small Cap Funds
Highest growth potential and the deepest drawdowns. For long horizons only.
Data updated · 36 direct-growth funds ranked by a transparent 0–100 Smart Score
| ⚖ VS | Fund | Score ↓ | Verdict | 1Y | 3Y | 5Y | Sharpe | Sortino | Std Dev | Alpha | Beta | VR★ | P/E | Expense | AUM | Age |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bandhan Small Cap Bandhan | 82 | Strong Buy | 13.8% | 25.2% | 20.1% | 1.12 | 1.43 | 20.9 | 9.1 | 0.90 | 5★ | 18.0 | 0.58% | ₹31.1k Cr | 6.5y | |
| Invesco India Small Cap Invesco | 82 | Strong Buy | 18.6% | 23.5% | 20.7% | 0.93 | 1.28 | 17.9 | 7.0 | 0.90 | 5★ | 42.6 | 0.64% | ₹14.5k Cr | 7.8y | |
| ITI Small Cap ITI | 75 | Buy | 23.1% | 25.5% | 19.4% | 1.00 | 1.31 | 19.8 | 6.6 | 0.84 | 4★ | 41.8 | 0.85% | ₹3.5k Cr | 6.5y | |
| Motilal Oswal Small Cap Motilal Oswal | 75 | Buy | 25.3% | — | — | 0.96 | 1.34 | 17.4 | 11.4 | 0.84 | — | 32.7 | 0.85% | ₹7.6k Cr | 2.7y | |
| Bank Of India Small Cap Bank of India | 74 | Buy | 28.1% | 22.2% | 20.8% | 0.83 | 1.11 | 21.9 | 3.5 | 0.92 | 5★ | 34.6 | 0.68% | ₹2.8k Cr | 7.7y | |
| Mirae Asset Small Cap Mirae Asset | 70 | Buy | 13.7% | — | — | 0.72 | 1.05 | 15.6 | 6.2 | 0.81 | — | 30.2 | 0.68% | ₹5.2k Cr | 1.7y | |
| MahIndra Manulife Small Cap Mahindra Manulife | 66 | Buy | 20.7% | 21.4% | — | 0.91 | 1.06 | 20.0 | 4.6 | 0.86 | 5★ | 26.9 | 0.90% | ₹5.1k Cr | 3.7y | |
| Quant Small Cap Gr Quant | 65 | Buy | 16.7% | 17.6% | 20.4% | 0.79 | 0.82 | 20.6 | 2.5 | 0.87 | 5★ | 31.1 | 0.95% | ₹33.8k Cr | 13.7y | |
| DSP Small Cap DSP | 63 | Buy | 18.8% | 17.9% | 19.2% | 0.72 | 0.89 | 21.5 | 1.1 | 0.90 | 3★ | 30.3 | 0.82% | ₹20.1k Cr | 13.6y | |
| Edelweiss Small Cap Edelweiss | 58 | Hold | 12.0% | 16.4% | 18.3% | 0.59 | 0.80 | 16.3 | 1.3 | 0.82 | 4★ | 32.3 | 0.65% | ₹6.8k Cr | 7.6y | |
| Nippon India Small Cap Nippon India | 58 | Hold | 10.9% | 15.6% | 19.6% | 0.53 | 0.70 | 16.6 | -0.4 | 0.85 | 5★ | 27.7 | 0.70% | ₹79.0k Cr | 13.7y | |
| Axis Small Cap Axis | 57 | Hold | 12.4% | 16.1% | 16.7% | 0.63 | 0.86 | 14.9 | 0.7 | 0.75 | 5★ | 31.3 | 0.77% | ₹30.0k Cr | 12.8y | |
| Union Small Cap Union | 55 | Hold | 24.0% | 17.7% | 18.1% | 0.79 | 0.79 | 19.8 | 2.6 | 0.83 | 4★ | 39.9 | 1.14% | ₹2.4k Cr | 12.2y | |
| TrustMF Small Cap Trust | 55 | Hold | 32.6% | — | — | 0.70 | 0.95 | 18.5 | 15.6 | 0.91 | — | 41.3 | 1.51% | ₹2.9k Cr | 1.8y | |
| LIC MF Small Cap LIC | 50 | Hold | 19.4% | 18.9% | 18.8% | 0.68 | 0.85 | 21.6 | 0.3 | 0.90 | 4★ | 23.0 | 1.44% | ₹758 Cr | 9.2y | |
| Sundaram Small Cap Sundaram | 50 | Hold | 17.6% | 17.4% | 17.5% | 0.78 | 0.61 | 19.7 | 2.0 | 0.84 | 3★ | 27.2 | 0.96% | ₹3.9k Cr | 13.7y | |
| HSBC Small Cap HSBC | 49 | Hold | 15.1% | 14.8% | 18.6% | 0.45 | 0.63 | 17.3 | — | — | 4★ | 33.2 | 0.77% | ₹17.8k Cr | 12.3y | |
| PGIM India Small Cap PGIM India | 48 | Hold | 16.0% | 17.4% | 14.7% | 0.69 | 0.95 | 15.5 | 2.5 | 0.75 | 2★ | 42.0 | 0.88% | ₹1.7k Cr | 5.1y | |
| Quantum Small Cap Quantum | 46 | Hold | 11.3% | — | — | 0.48 | 0.67 | 14.4 | -1.0 | 0.69 | — | 21.6 | 0.83% | ₹254 Cr | 2.8y | |
| Bajaj Finserv Small Cap Bajaj Finserv | 45 | Hold | 19.9% | — | — | 0.36 | 0.51 | 16.0 | 8.0 | 0.91 | — | 31.9 | 0.95% | ₹2.4k Cr | 1.2y | |
| UTI Small Cap UTI | 40 | Avoid | 8.3% | 14.8% | 16.2% | 0.48 | 0.65 | 16.8 | -1.1 | 0.84 | 3★ | 27.6 | 0.86% | ₹5.3k Cr | 5.7y | |
| SBI Small Cap SBI | 40 | Avoid | 10.1% | 12.8% | 15.2% | 0.43 | 0.58 | 14.2 | -1.6 | 0.70 | 3★ | 31.7 | 0.74% | ₹40.0k Cr | 17.0y | |
| ABSL Small Cap Gr Dir Aditya Birla Sun Life | 39 | Avoid | 21.1% | 16.0% | 14.7% | 0.55 | 0.74 | 17.1 | 0.0 | 0.86 | — | — | 1.08% | ₹5.9k Cr | 13.7y | |
| Canara Robeco Small Cap Canara Robeco | 39 | Avoid | 8.8% | 13.3% | 15.9% | 0.41 | 0.55 | 16.4 | -2.3 | 0.83 | 3★ | 32.4 | 0.65% | ₹14.2k Cr | 7.5y | |
| Helios Small Cap Helios | 35 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 41.8 | 0.88% | ₹1.5k Cr | 0.8y | |
| FranklIn India Small Cap Franklin | 34 | Avoid | 6.8% | 13.2% | 16.7% | 0.39 | 0.53 | 16.4 | -2.5 | 0.82 | 3★ | 27.6 | 1.04% | ₹14.5k Cr | 13.7y | |
| Kotak Small Cap Gr Dir Kotak | 32 | Avoid | 7.6% | 12.7% | 13.7% | 0.38 | 0.51 | 15.4 | -2.4 | 0.76 | 3★ | 33.5 | 0.63% | ₹18.8k Cr | 13.7y | |
| HDFC Small Cap HDFC | 29 | Avoid | -1.0% | 11.2% | 15.8% | 0.27 | 0.37 | 16.1 | -4.4 | 0.81 | 3★ | 21.4 | 0.76% | ₹41.7k Cr | 13.7y | |
| Baroda BNP Paribas Small Cap Baroda BNP Paribas | 29 | Avoid | 10.8% | — | — | 0.46 | 0.60 | 17.1 | -2.5 | 0.85 | — | 29.5 | 1.15% | ₹1.3k Cr | 2.9y | |
| Tata Small Cap Tata | 27 | Avoid | -0.6% | 11.9% | 15.7% | 0.29 | 0.40 | 17.6 | -4.2 | 0.86 | 2★ | 28.8 | 0.50% | ₹12.7k Cr | 7.8y | |
| JM Small Cap JM | 26 | Avoid | 19.5% | — | — | 0.10 | 0.13 | 20.7 | 3.2 | 1.05 | — | 30.7 | 0.95% | ₹863 Cr | 2.2y | |
| ICICI Pru Small Cap ICICI Pru | 24 | Avoid | 4.5% | 11.6% | 15.0% | 0.33 | 0.45 | 14.4 | -3.0 | 0.72 | 3★ | 24.8 | 1.18% | ₹9.5k Cr | 13.7y | |
| Abakkus Small Cap Abakkus | 19 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 27.6 | 1.42% | ₹2.1k Cr | 0.5y | |
| Groww Small Cap Groww | 17 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1.11% | ₹573 Cr | 0.7y | |
| Samco Small Cap Samco | 4 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 41.5 | 1.63% | ₹159 Cr | 0.8y | |
| The Wealth Company Small Cap The Wealth Company | 1 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 37.2 | 2.16% | ₹106 Cr | 0.5y |
Small Cap funds — quick answers
›Which is the best Small Cap mutual fund right now?
Bandhan Small Cap currently ranks #1 of 36 Small Cap funds with a FundLens Smart Score of 82/100 (Strong Buy). It returned 25.2% over 3 years and 20.1% over 5 years at a 0.58% expense ratio (direct plan). Rankings are recomputed from data updated 03 Sept 2026.
›Which Small Cap fund has the best risk-adjusted returns?
Bandhan Small Cap leads the category on the Sortino ratio at 1.43 (Sharpe 1.12) — meaning it has delivered the most return per unit of downside risk among Small Cap funds.
›Which Small Cap fund has the lowest expense ratio?
Tata Small Cap charges 0.50% a year (direct plan) — the lowest in the category. Lower fees compound in your favour over long holding periods.
›Which is the smallest Small Cap fund by AUM?
The Wealth Company Small Cap manages ₹106 Cr, the smallest in the category. Smaller funds can be nimbler, but check track record and costs before treating size alone as an edge.
›How long should I stay invested in a Small Cap fund?
Small Cap funds carry very high risk, so a horizon of 7+ years is generally sensible. Highest growth potential and the deepest drawdowns. For long horizons only. This is research, not investment advice.
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