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 | 85 | Strong Buy | 9.0% | 22.0% | 17.9% | 0.88 | 1.20 | 20.5 | 8.7 | 0.90 | 5★ | 16.6 | 0.61% | ₹35.8k Cr | 6.7y | |
| Invesco India Small Cap Invesco | 81 | Strong Buy | 9.0% | 20.2% | 17.8% | 0.84 | 1.05 | 19.9 | 7.8 | 0.85 | 5★ | 41.0 | 0.63% | ₹16.1k Cr | 8.0y | |
| ITI Small Cap ITI | 75 | Buy | 15.2% | 21.4% | 17.1% | 0.90 | 1.03 | 20.1 | 9.0 | 0.87 | 5★ | 39.9 | 0.86% | ₹3.7k Cr | 6.7y | |
| Bank Of India Small Cap Bank of India | 75 | Buy | 25.3% | 19.5% | 18.0% | 0.77 | 0.93 | 21.9 | 7.1 | 0.93 | 5★ | 39.6 | 0.73% | ₹3.7k Cr | 7.9y | |
| Motilal Oswal Small Cap Motilal Oswal | 75 | Buy | 16.2% | — | — | 0.81 | 1.12 | 17.3 | 10.7 | 0.84 | — | 32.3 | 0.85% | ₹8.3k Cr | 2.8y | |
| Quant Small Cap Quant | 69 | Buy | 10.8% | 16.4% | 17.1% | 0.63 | 0.75 | 20.3 | 3.6 | 0.87 | 5★ | 30.8 | 0.93% | ₹35.4k Cr | 13.8y | |
| Mahindra Manulife Small Cap Mahindra Manulife | 66 | Buy | 12.3% | 17.7% | — | 0.74 | 0.82 | 19.9 | 5.7 | 0.87 | 4★ | 27.1 | 0.92% | ₹5.4k Cr | 3.9y | |
| DSP Small Cap DSP | 65 | Buy | 16.3% | 15.7% | 15.9% | 0.62 | 0.74 | 21.4 | 3.7 | 0.91 | 4★ | 29.7 | 0.81% | ₹21.5k Cr | 13.8y | |
| Mirae Asset Small Cap Mirae Asset | 64 | Buy | 6.7% | — | — | 0.43 | 0.61 | 15.5 | 4.8 | 0.82 | — | 30.6 | 0.70% | ₹5.8k Cr | 1.8y | |
| Nippon India Small Cap Nippon India | 58 | Hold | 5.2% | 13.2% | 16.6% | 0.41 | 0.54 | 16.6 | 0.1 | 0.85 | 5★ | 27.9 | 0.69% | ₹80.9k Cr | 13.8y | |
| Union Small Cap Union | 57 | Hold | 17.0% | 14.9% | 15.5% | 0.63 | 0.59 | 19.6 | 3.7 | 0.83 | 4★ | 42.4 | 1.09% | ₹2.7k Cr | 12.4y | |
| Axis Small Cap Axis | 57 | Hold | 5.9% | 13.5% | 14.1% | 0.61 | 0.63 | 17.0 | 2.4 | 0.75 | 5★ | 30.6 | 0.72% | ₹30.6k Cr | 12.9y | |
| TrustMF Small Cap Trust | 55 | Hold | 24.4% | — | — | 0.53 | 0.70 | 18.5 | 14.9 | 0.92 | — | 47.1 | 1.54% | ₹3.9k Cr | 2.0y | |
| Edelweiss Small Cap Edelweiss | 54 | Hold | 4.5% | 13.4% | 14.7% | 0.42 | 0.57 | 16.4 | 0.9 | 0.82 | 4★ | 31.7 | 0.65% | ₹7.0k Cr | 7.7y | |
| HSBC Small Cap HSBC | 54 | Hold | 8.0% | 12.0% | 14.8% | 0.45 | 0.63 | 17.3 | — | — | 4★ | 34.4 | 0.77% | ₹18.5k Cr | 12.4y | |
| LIC MF Small Cap LIC | 53 | Hold | 12.6% | 15.9% | 15.4% | 0.63 | 0.65 | 21.9 | 4.1 | 0.93 | 4★ | 24.2 | 1.32% | ₹841 Cr | 9.4y | |
| Sundaram Small Cap Sundaram | 50 | Hold | 9.3% | 14.4% | 14.3% | 0.59 | 0.61 | 19.6 | 2.7 | 0.85 | 3★ | 27.1 | 0.98% | ₹4.1k Cr | 13.8y | |
| PGIM India Small Cap PGIM India | 42 | Avoid | 7.9% | 14.4% | 11.1% | 0.62 | 0.69 | 17.8 | 3.1 | 0.76 | 3★ | 40.0 | 0.94% | ₹1.7k Cr | 5.2y | |
| Bajaj Finserv Small Cap Bajaj Finserv | 42 | Avoid | 12.9% | — | — | 0.05 | 0.08 | 16.0 | 7.0 | 0.91 | — | 30.1 | 0.96% | ₹2.8k Cr | 1.3y | |
| Quantum Small Cap Quantum | 42 | Avoid | 4.7% | — | — | 0.29 | 0.40 | 14.4 | -2.0 | 0.69 | — | 21.4 | 0.83% | ₹262 Cr | 3.0y | |
| ABSL Small Cap Aditya Birla Sun Life | 38 | Avoid | 12.6% | 13.3% | 11.7% | 0.40 | 0.53 | 17.2 | 0.1 | 0.87 | — | — | 1.07% | ₹6.1k Cr | 13.8y | |
| Helios Small Cap Helios | 38 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 43.7 | 0.90% | ₹1.9k Cr | 1.0y | |
| Kotak Small Cap Kotak | 37 | Avoid | 2.0% | 10.4% | 10.5% | 0.25 | 0.34 | 15.5 | -2.1 | 0.77 | 2★ | 32.2 | 0.65% | ₹19.1k Cr | 13.8y | |
| UTI Small Cap UTI | 36 | Avoid | 2.0% | 12.0% | 13.2% | 0.33 | 0.44 | 16.9 | -1.1 | 0.85 | 3★ | 27.2 | 1.06% | ₹5.2k Cr | 5.8y | |
| Canara Robeco Small Cap Canara Robeco | 35 | Avoid | 0.9% | 10.3% | 12.2% | 0.23 | 0.31 | 16.4 | -2.8 | 0.83 | 3★ | 32.5 | 0.68% | ₹14.0k Cr | 7.7y | |
| SBI Small Cap SBI | 34 | Avoid | 2.7% | 9.6% | 11.7% | 0.22 | 0.30 | 14.3 | -2.5 | 0.70 | 3★ | 30.8 | 0.80% | ₹41.1k Cr | 17.1y | |
| Baroda BNP Paribas Small Cap Baroda BNP Paribas | 34 | Avoid | 7.3% | — | — | 0.36 | 0.47 | 17.0 | -2.1 | 0.85 | — | 29.4 | 1.21% | ₹1.3k Cr | 3.0y | |
| FranklIn India Small Cap Franklin | 33 | Avoid | 1.5% | 10.1% | 13.6% | 0.22 | 0.30 | 16.4 | -2.9 | 0.83 | 2★ | 28.0 | 1.05% | ₹14.3k Cr | 13.8y | |
| Tata Small Cap Tata | 30 | Avoid | -2.1% | 9.6% | 13.4% | 0.18 | 0.24 | 17.7 | -3.7 | 0.87 | 3★ | 28.4 | 0.51% | ₹13.2k Cr | 8.0y | |
| ICICI Pru Small Cap ICICI Pru | 29 | Avoid | 1.4% | 9.7% | 12.3% | 0.22 | 0.30 | 14.4 | -2.4 | 0.72 | 3★ | 24.3 | 1.18% | ₹9.8k Cr | 13.8y | |
| HDFC Small Cap HDFC | 29 | Avoid | -4.5% | 8.8% | 12.8% | 0.14 | 0.19 | 16.1 | -4.0 | 0.80 | 3★ | 20.3 | 0.79% | ₹40.8k Cr | 13.8y | |
| JM Small Cap JM | 23 | Avoid | 11.5% | — | — | -0.01 | -0.01 | 20.6 | 3.5 | 1.06 | — | 31.1 | 0.97% | ₹939 Cr | 2.3y | |
| Abakkus Small Cap Abakkus | 22 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 26.3 | 1.25% | ₹3.2k Cr | 0.6y | |
| Groww Small Cap Groww | 19 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 1.09% | ₹966 Cr | 0.8y | |
| Samco Small Cap Samco | 5 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 44.6 | 1.97% | ₹270 Cr | 0.9y | |
| The Wealth Company Small Cap The Wealth Company | 1 | Avoid | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 37.2 | 2.05% | ₹144 Cr | 0.6y |
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 85/100 (Strong Buy). It returned 22.0% over 3 years and 17.9% over 5 years at a 0.61% expense ratio (direct plan). Rankings are recomputed from data updated 20 Oct 2026.
›Which Small Cap fund has the best risk-adjusted returns?
Bandhan Small Cap leads the category on the Sortino ratio at 1.20 (Sharpe 0.88) — 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 0.51% 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 ₹144 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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