Returns, ratios, rankings, manager records – all these metrics describe what has already happened, in market conditions that will not be repeated in the same order.
And the time horizon of a decade is long enough for almost everything to change.
So, for investors looking out for the best funds for the next 10 years, the useful question is which characteristics from the past data have chances of surviving in 2036.
After applying filters to the entire universe of equity funds, only 4 cleared our tests and could potentially continue their strong show in the coming years.
The filters we applied include consistency across different periods, risk-adjusted efficiency over a long period, and whether the person making the decisions is still there, i.e. fund manager’s track record.
Let’s understand this in detail…
Test One: Does it Repeatedly Beat the Benchmark?
Each fund we’ll discuss below is shown against the index it should be measured against.
| Scheme and its benchmark | 1 year | 2 years | 3 years | 5 years | 7 years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC Flexi Cap Fund | 4.23 | 4.77 | 16.38 | 17.85 | 19.35 |
| Nifty 500 TRI | 2.83 | -0.09 | 11.67 | 10.62 | 15.84 |
| Bandhan Large & Mid Cap Fund | 7.57 | 3.02 | 18.89 | 17.18 | 20.71 |
| Nifty LargeMidcap 250 TRI | 4.89 | 1.15 | 13.21 | 12.80 | 18.39 |
| WOC Mid Cap Fund | 17.14 | 10.77 | 22.85 | No data | No data |
| Nifty Midcap 150 TRI | 10.17 | 3.47 | 16.42 | 17.02 | 23.10 |
| ICICI Pru Value Fund | -1.59 | -0.54 | 12.82 | 15.16 | 19.43 |
| Nifty 500 TRI | 2.83 | -0.09 | 11.67 | 10.62 | 15.84 |
Data Source: Ace MF, as of 4 September 2026
Two things stand out. HDFC Flexi Cap and Bandhan Large & Mid Cap beat their benchmarks in every single period measured. That too by a wide margin.
HDFC Flexi Cap is 7.23 percentage points ahead over five years and 4.71 ahead over three years. Bandhan is 5.68 points ahead over three years and 4.39 over five years. Over two years, when the Nifty 500 TRI actually fell, HDFC Flexi Cap returned 4.77%.
ICICI Pru Value trails over one and two years, by 4.43 and 0.44 percentage points, while beating comfortably over three, five, and seven years.
Test Two: How Much Discomfort Did it Handle?
| Scheme and its benchmark | Volatility | Sharpe | Sortino |
|---|---|---|---|
| HDFC Flexi Cap Fund | 11.99 | 0.28 | 0.52 |
| Nifty 500 TRI | 13.42 | 0.16 | 0.29 |
| Bandhan Large & Mid Cap Fund | 14.15 | 0.28 | 0.53 |
| Nifty LargeMidcap 250 TRI | 13.98 | 0.19 | 0.35 |
| WOC Mid Cap Fund | 15.88 | 0.33 | 0.63 |
| Nifty Midcap 150 TRI | 16.17 | 0.23 | 0.44 |
| ICICI Pru Value Fund | 11.15 | 0.21 | 0.41 |
Data Source: Ace MF, as of 4 September 2026
Every one of the four names has a higher Sharpe ratio than its benchmark, which means all four converted risk into return more efficiently than simply buying the index would have.
HDFC Flexi Cap ran at a volatility of 11.99 against its benchmark’s 13.42, with a Sharpe ratio of 0.28 against 0.16 and a Sortino of 0.52 against 0.29.
WOC Mid Cap has the best absolute Sharpe and Sortino of the four, at 0.33 and 0.63, and does it at a volatility below the mid cap index.
Bandhan is the one carrying slightly more volatility than its benchmark, at 14.15 against 13.98, but converts it into a far better Sharpe ratio.
ICICI Pru Value is the calmest of the four at 11.15, which is the compensation for its recent underperformance.
Let’s look at each fund in detail…
#1 HDFC Flexi Cap Fund
HDFC Flexi Cap Fund has the fewest reservations attached. It manages about Rs 1.11 trillion (tn), making it one of the two largest flexi cap schemes in India, at a direct plan expense ratio of 0.57%.
Its mandate lets it move freely across large, mid, and small caps. In practice, it has stayed predominantly large cap, which is precisely why its volatility sits below a broad market index while its returns sit well above it.
There is one development an investor buying this fund for ten years must know about.
Roshi Jain managed the fund from July 2022 until her resignation from HDFC AMC in November 2025 and delivered roughly 23% a year over that stretch.
Amit Ganatra took over on 1 February 2026. He is not unknown, having previously headed equities at Invesco India where the flexi cap fund he co-managed returned about 21.8% a year over three years against 16.2% for its benchmark.
The encouraging part is what he has done since. Reported portfolio analysis through June 2026 shows the core intact, with ICICI Bank, HDFC Bank, Axis Bank. and SBI still the largest holdings, and changes confined to the edges.
A new manager who rebuilds a portfolio in the first ninety days invites questions. One who adjusts at the margins is signalling continuity.
That said, the returns in the table above were largely earned by someone else’s decisions, so do keep that in mind.
#2 Bandhan Large & Mid Cap Fund
Next is Bandhan Large & Mid Cap Fund the most consistently underrated of the four funds and the one whose benchmark comparison is the cleanest.
The Nifty LargeMidcap 250 TRI returned 13.21% over three years and 12.80% over five. Bandhan Large and Mid Cap returned 18.89% and 17.18%. That is 5.68 and 4.39 percentage points of annual outperformance against exactly the index it’s supposed to be measured against.
A large and mid cap fund is required to hold at least 35% in each of large caps and mid caps. That structure is genuinely useful in a ten-year portfolio, because it forces exposure to the mid cap segment without requiring the investor to time it.
The mandate does the rebalancing that most people fail to do themselves.
The cost is visible in the risk table. At a volatility of 14.15 this is the only fund of the four carrying more risk than its own benchmark.
It has been rewarded for it so far, with a Sharpe ratio of 0.28 against the index’s 0.19.
But an investor should expect this to move more sharply in both directions.
#3 WOC Mid Cap Fund
WOC Mid Cap Fund has the best numbers of the four, but the shortest record.
Over one year, it returned 17.14% against the Nifty Midcap 150 TRI’s 10.17%. Over two years, 10.77% against 3.47%. Over three years, 22.85% against 16.42%.
These are margins of roughly six to seven percentage points in every period, achieved at a volatility of 15.88 which is below the index. Its Sharpe ratio of 0.33 and Sortino of 0.63 are the highest.
The columns of five and seven years are blank because it’s yet to complete that time history.
WhiteOak’s mid cap fund launched on 7 September 2022. It is four years old. Its entire life has been spent in a period that was, with the exception of the past twelve months, extraordinarily kind to Indian midcaps.
The fund has never managed money through a sustained mid cap bear market.
The fund’s process is genuinely differentiated. WhiteOak runs a bottom-up approach with deliberately limited sector bias, managed by a large team under Ramesh Mantri.
At roughly Rs 68 bn it is small enough to take meaningful positions in genuinely mid-sized companies. The direct plan expense ratio is 0.49%.
Everything about the fund looks attractive except for the length of the evidence.
#4 ICICI Pru Value Fund
ICICI Pru Value Fund is the only fund here that has lost money over the past year, and also the reason it belongs in the portfolio.
It returned -1.59% over twelve months and -0.54% over two years, against a benchmark that returned 2.83% and -0.09%.
Over three years it returned 12.82%, over five 15.16%, and over seven 19.43%, beating that benchmark by 1.15, 4.53, and 3.59 percentage points respectively.
This is the signature of value investing. A value strategy buys companies the market has marked down and waits for the gap between price and worth to close.
When markets are driven by growth and momentum, as they largely have been, that strategy lags. When the leadership rotates, it catches up quickly, which is what the 5 and 7-year figures represent.
Its volatility of 11.15 is the lowest of the four.
This brings us to the reason why a portfolio might need a value fund. Three of these four funds are exposed to broadly the same thing, which is Indian growth companies doing well. If the next decade rewards that, they will all do well together.
If it does not, they will all disappoint investors together. The value fund is the one holding different exposures, and the years it looks worst are precisely the years it is doing its job of not being correlated with the rest.
Anyone who cannot hold it through a year like this one should not buy it, because selling a value fund after two flat years is how investors convert a portfolio diversifier into a loss.
Why These Four Together
| Scheme | Role in the portfolio | NAV (Rs) |
|---|---|---|
| HDFC Flexi Cap Fund | The core | 2,271.32 |
| Bandhan Large & Mid Cap Fund | The tilt toward midcaps | 167.27 |
| WOC Mid Cap Fund | The growth engine | 23.63 |
| ICICI Pru Value Fund | The counterweight | 505.92 |
The point of picking one fund per category rather than the four with the highest returns is that those would almost certainly all be mid and small cap funds. That is not a good way to invest.
Conclusion
Nothing in the past data guarantees anything over the next ten years.
What it can do is narrow the field to funds that have beaten their own benchmarks repeatedly, done it without taking excessive risk, and are run by people still in the building.
The most valuable thing an investor can do with a ten-year horizon is to keep holding through the years when good fund investments looks like a mistake, because in any decade at least one of them will, and usually more than once.
Evaluate the scheme’s investment mandate, the fund manager’s track record, costs, portfolio composition, and your asset allocation and risk tolerance before making any investment conclusions.
Happy investing.
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes only. It is not a stock recommendation and should not be treated as such. Learn more about our recommendation services here…
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