Nifty Total Market Index Shows 9.49% Three-Year CAGR as Passive Funds Track 750-Stock Universe

Key Takeaways

• The Nifty Total Market Index provides exposure across large-, mid-, small- and micro-cap stocks through a single broad-market benchmark. 
• As of 1 October 2026, the Nifty Total Market TRI showed a three-year CAGR of 9.49% and five-year CAGR of 9.28%. 
• Existing index funds tracking the benchmark have shorter histories, so long-term scheme-level comparisons remain limited. 

The Nifty Total Market Index has delivered higher three- and five-year historical returns than the Nifty 50 TRI in the latest dataset, highlighting the effect of extending index exposure beyond India’s largest companies. 

As of 1 October 2026, the Nifty Total Market TRI recorded a 9.49% CAGR over three years and 9.28% over five years. The corresponding Nifty 50 TRI returns were 5.75% and 6.29%, according to data compiled from NSE. 

Over one year, both indices were negative. The Nifty Total Market TRI declined 3.14%, compared with an 8.74% fall in the Nifty 50 TRI. 

The Nifty 500 TRI, another broad-market benchmark, returned 9.16% over three years and 8.89% over five years in the same dataset. 

The key structural difference lies in coverage. 

NSE Indices describes the Nifty Total Market Index as a benchmark spanning 750 stocks across large-, mid-, small- and micro-cap segments. It combines stocks represented in the Nifty 500 and Nifty Microcap 250, with constituent weights based on free-float market capitalisation. The index is reviewed semi-annually. 

This gives the benchmark a wider market footprint than the Nifty 50 or Nifty 500 and introduces exposure to micro-cap companies that are absent from the latter. 

Passive mutual funds tracking the index are still relatively new, limiting meaningful long-duration comparisons between schemes. 

Data for four direct-plan index funds tracking the benchmark showed one-year returns clustered between roughly -3.4% and -3.7% as of 1 October. The underlying Nifty Total Market TRI declined 3.14% over the same broad period. 

The difference between benchmark and fund returns can arise from expense ratios, cash positions, trading costs and tracking error. 

The longer three-, five- and ten-year figures therefore describe the index's historical performance, rather than realised returns earned by current Nifty Total Market mutual fund schemes throughout those periods. 

At the ten-year level, the Nifty Total Market TRI recorded a CAGR of 12.87%, compared with 11.38% for the Nifty 50 TRI and 12.66% for the Nifty 500 TRI.