Now Reading: Mid-cap funds vary wildly in large, small stock bets
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Mid-cap funds vary wildly in large, small stock bets
An analysis of 18 mid-cap mutual funds with a combined AUM of Rs 4.75 lakh crore reveals wide differences in portfolio composition. Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund holds 25.3% in large-cap stocks, the…
An analysis of 18 mid-cap mutual funds with a combined AUM of Rs 4.75 lakh crore reveals wide differences in portfolio composition. Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund holds 25.3% in large-cap stocks, the highest in the category, while Helios Midcap Fund allocates just 4% to large caps. Quant Midcap Fund leads mid-cap exposure at 74.6%, with the category median at 70.3%.
Helios also has the largest small-cap allocation at 30.1%, compared to Motilal Oswal's 3.9%. Equity exposure ranges from Helios's 99.5% to Franklin Midcap Fund's cash holding of 4%. Although all funds fall under the SEBI-defined mid-cap category, the portfolios carry significantly different risk profiles, meaning investors may not get the market exposure they expect.
Indian Opinion Analysis
Mutual fund categories are defined by SEBI's 2017 circular, which mandates that a mid-cap fund invest at least 65% of its assets in stocks ranked 101st to 250th by market capitalisation. The remaining 35% gives fund managers wide latitude, which explains the divergence: Motilal Oswal's 25.3% large-cap allocation is legal but aggressive, while Helios's 30.1% small-cap bet pushes the portfolio into territory closer to a small-cap fund's risk profile. Investors comparing trailing returns may miss that two funds in the same category can have vastly different volatility. The median figures (15.2% large, 70.3% mid, 15.8% small) provide a category benchmark, but no single fund exactly matches the average. The next quarterly portfolio disclosure, due by end-October 2026, will show whether fund managers are narrowing or widening these gaps.
Source: bazaar.businesstoday.in
This brief was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
