10 best-performing equity mutual funds of 2023 (2024)

If you are a mutual fund investor then this calendar year must have turned out good — if not phenomenal — for you in terms of the returns these schemes have delivered.

Thanks to the ongoing bull run with BSE Sensex fetching more than 18 percent return (and Nifty 20 percent), equity mutual funds have kept most investors on the edge of euphoria. It is, therefore, no surprise that equity mutual fund investment has seen a significant jump in 2023.

Cumulative inflow into equity funds for the year 2023 stood at ₹1,44,576crore,more than four times the cumulative inflow in debt mutual funds which stood at ₹29,470 crore.

Some of the thematic funds have given as high as 50 percent return, particularly in the infrastructure, realty and PSU space.

Mutual fund schemes in other categories such as multi cap, flexi cap, value and ELSS gave high returns in the range of 30-40 percent per annum.

Here we present the top ten equity mutual funds based on their past one-year returns

Mutual funds	1-year return (%)
JM Value Fund	47.66
Nippon India Value Fund	42.38
Aditya Birla Sun Life Pure Value Fund	43.02
Axis Value Fund	40.16
SBI Long Term Equity Fund	40.00
HDFC Multi Cap Fund	40.19
Kotak Multicap Fund	39.77
Motilal Oswal Large and Midcap Fund	38.05
ITI Multi Cap Fund	38.54
Nippon India Multi Cap Fund	38.13

(Source: AMFI; 1-year return ending Dec 29, 2023)

As we can see in the table above, value mutual funds gave returns in the range of 40-47 percent in the past one year. These include JM Value Fund, Nippon India Value Fund and Aditya Birla Sun Life Pure Value Fund and Axis Value Fund.

Some multi cap mutual funds gave returns as high as 38-40 percent which include HDFC Multi Cap Fund, Kotak Multicap Fund, ITI Multi Cap Fund and Nippon India Multi Cap Fund.

Thematic funds

Some of the thematic mutual funds particularly in the PSU and Infra categories have delivered even better returns. For instance, ICICI Prudential PSU Equity Fund gave 52.72 percent return, Aditya Birla Sun Life PSU Equity Fund gave 59 percent and Nippon India Power & Infra Fund gave 58 percent return.

Thematic funds	1-year-return (%)
Aditya Birla Sun Life PSU Equity Fund	59.28
ICICI Prudential PSU Equity Fund	52.72
Nippon India Power & Infra Fund	58.00

(1-year returns)

However, it is vital to note that the historical returns, albeit a key factor to evaluate a fund’s potential, does not guarantee its future potential. Other factors that investors should consider before deciding to invest in a scheme include the category of fund, reputation of mutual fund house and past performance of fund house as well as that of fund manager, so on and so forth.

Note: This story is for informational purposes only. Please speak to a SEBI-registered investment advisor before making any investment related decision.

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