Pharma and Healthcare Mutual Funds Lead Equity Categories With 19.15% YTD Return

Key Takeaways

• Pharma and healthcare funds generated an average 19.15% year-to-date return in 2026 in an ETMutualFunds analysis.
• The study covered 18 pharma and healthcare schemes and roughly 21 equity-oriented fund categories.
• Individual scheme returns ranged widely, showing substantial dispersion within the category.

Pharma and healthcare mutual funds emerged as the strongest-performing equity fund category in 2026 on a year-to-date basis, according to an analysis of mutual fund returns published on November 11.

The category generated an average return of 19.15%, ranking first among roughly 21 equity-oriented mutual fund categories examined by ETMutualFunds. The dataset included 18 pharma and healthcare sector schemes.

Performance within the category was not uniform.

Kotak Healthcare Fund recorded the highest year-to-date return in the dataset at about 30.14%, followed by HDFC Pharma and Healthcare Fund at 27.67%. Tata India Pharma & Healthcare Fund was at the lower end of the category with a return of around 8.85%.

For comparison, the Nifty Healthcare Index TRI gained about 17.94% over the same calendar-year period, according to ACE MF data cited in the analysis.

The spread between the highest- and lowest-returning schemes is important because sector funds can hold different combinations of pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, diagnostics firms and other healthcare businesses. Position sizes and stock-selection decisions can therefore create sizeable differences even within funds carrying the same broad sector classification.

These figures represent historical year-to-date returns rather than expected future performance.

Sectoral mutual funds are also structurally more concentrated than diversified equity schemes because their investment universe is limited to companies associated with a particular industry or theme.

The 19.15% number should consequently be read as a category-level performance statistic for 2026 up to the observation date, rather than as an indication that every pharma fund produced a similar return.

The study nevertheless highlights the relative strength of healthcare-related equities during the year and the degree to which that performance translated into mutual fund NAVs.