112 Equity Mutual Funds Record Negative Returns Since Diwali 2025

Key Takeaways

• Of 292 diversified equity mutual funds examined in a Diwali-to-Diwali study, 112 reported negative returns.
• Fourteen schemes declined by more than 5%, with Samco Flexi Cap Fund recording the largest fall at approximately 10.06%.
• The analysis excludes sectoral and thematic funds and measures historical lump-sum performance over the review period.

More Than One-Third of Equity Schemes Post Losses

A Diwali-to-Diwali performance analysis of Indian equity mutual funds has found that 112 out of 292 schemes delivered negative returns over the period beginning 20 October 2025.

The findings, published on 8 November 2026 and based on ACE MF data, cover diversified equity schemes while excluding sectoral and thematic funds.

Of the 112 schemes recording losses, 14 declined by more than 5%.

The results show considerable differences in fund-level performance over the review period, despite the schemes operating within the broader equity mutual fund segment.

Samco Flexi Cap Fund Records the Largest Decline

Samco Flexi Cap Fund recorded the largest negative return in the reported analysis, declining approximately 10.06%.

Tata Large & Mid Cap Fund followed with a decline of 8.94%.

Other schemes recording losses included Franklin India Focused Equity Fund and Parag Parikh ELSS Tax Saver Fund, which declined 7.94% and 7.86%, respectively.

Several small-cap, value and tax-saving schemes also featured among the funds reporting losses greater than 5%.

Schemes With Declines Exceeding 5%

Different Equity Categories Feature Among the Decliners

The list includes flexi-cap, large-and-mid-cap, focused, small-cap, value and equity-linked savings schemes.

These categories follow different investment mandates, and their portfolios can respond differently to changes in market conditions.

Flexi-cap funds may adjust exposure across company sizes, while small-cap and focused schemes have different portfolio construction requirements.

The presence of several categories among the declining schemes indicates that losses were not restricted to one type of diversified equity strategy.

Understanding the Performance Period

The study reports returns over a defined Diwali-to-Diwali investment period.

These are historical period returns, rather than systematic investment plan XIRRs or annualised long-term returns.

They should therefore not be directly compared with SIP performance figures calculated over different investment dates or cash-flow patterns.

The dataset provides a snapshot of fund-level variation over approximately one year, with 180 of the 292 schemes falling outside the negative-return group.