MF Analyser

Axis Small Cap Fund

Category Small Cap →

Direct–Growth is the plan and option we treat as this fund's main page, so search engines are pointed there. Everything below is this filing's own data.

Fund basics

Launched5 Dec 2013 12.8 years of history
CategorySmall CapSEBI classification
Plan & optionRegular · IDCW Option code 125352
BenchmarkNifty Smallcap 250 used for alpha & beta below
NAV as on24 Sep 2026source AMFI

Computed from 3,152 published NAVs between 5 Dec 2013 and 16 Sep 2026 — 12.8 years of history. Nothing here is an estimate; it is arithmetic on what the fund actually printed.

How it has moved

Return over time (%)

Fund name 1M3M6M1Y3Y5Y7Y10YSince launch
Axis Small Cap Fund Regular -2.184.2417.41 -2.604.064.49 9.588.6512.62
Nifty Smallcap 250 benchmark -2.432.3118.04 2.9313.4313.98 21.35—21.51
Small Cap category median · 28 funds ——— 9.2315.7114.48 —16.02—

Anything over a year is annualised (CAGR); shorter windows are absolute. The benchmark row is the index fund named below, priced daily by AMFI like every other scheme here. The category row is the median Regular plan in Small Cap — the middle fund, not a ranking, and a median rather than an average so that one mis-stated scheme cannot move it. As on 24 Sep 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
Axis Small Cap Fund Regular 16.74 -0.15 -0.18 0.87 -10.35 -41.27
Nifty Smallcap 250 benchmark 19.58 0.35 0.46 —— -42.44

Risk-free rate 6.5%. Beta and alpha need an index, so the benchmark's own row leaves them blank.

Risk

VolatilityDownside volatilitySharpeSortino
16.7%13.5%-0.15-0.18

Risk-free rate 6.5%, roughly the 10-year government bond.

The worst it has been

Deepest fallTime to recoverToday, from its peak
-41.3%9 months-13.1%
0%-15%-29%-44%2014201620182020202220242026
How far below its own record high the fund sat, on every single day it has existed. Flat along the top means it was making new highs; every dip is a stretch where somebody who bought at the wrong moment was down.

A drawdown is the fall from a previous high to the low that followed it. It is the number that decides whether somebody stays invested — a fund can have an excellent ten-year return and still have been unbearable to hold in year four.

Every one-year period it has lived through

Best yearMedian yearWorst yearLosing years
96.5%7.1%-30.1%37%
Worst-30.1%Median7.1%Best96.5%now
The full spread of one-year outcomes, with the fund's actual last twelve months marked. It answers the question a single number cannot: is right now an ordinary year for this fund, or an unusual one?

Rolling returns ask a fairer question than a single five-year figure: not "what did it do from this one start date", but "what happened across every start date". A fund whose worst year is −45% is a different proposition from one whose worst is −8%, even if the averages match.

Calendar years

44.8%2021-5.8%202221.8%202314.9%2024-10.1%20250.2%2026MF Analyser
Each year on its own, January to December. Losing years hang below the line — averages hide them, and the years somebody actually had to sit through are the ones that decide whether they stayed.

If you had run a SIP

₹10,000 every month for five years — ₹600,000 invested in all — would be worth ₹675,557 today, an XIRR of 4.69% a year.

XIRR, not CAGR. A SIP's money arrives over sixty months, so most of it has been invested for far less than five years — which is why this figure normally sits below the five-year CAGR above in a rising market, and above it in a falling one. It is the return the investor got, not the return the fund got.

What it actually holds

The real portfolio the AMC filed with AMFI. Nothing here is estimated — when a fund has no filing in our store the section simply does not appear. A fund is its holdings; the returns above are only what those holdings did.

Asset allocation

91.55%Equity
8.01%Cash & Equivalents
0.47%Debt

A fund's risk starts here — how much of it is even in the market — before any question of which stocks or which sectors. Cash is not idleness; it is the manager's choice not to be invested, and it shows up as a drag in a rising market and a cushion in a falling one.

Portfolio aggregates

6.44%Large
10.32%Mid
74.39%Small
Large Cap 6.4%6.4%Mid Cap 10.3%10.3%Small Cap 74.4%74.4%Unclassified 0.9%Large Cap 6.4%Mid Cap 10.3%Small Cap 74.4%Unclassified 0.9%
AMFI's half-yearly ranking: 1–100 Large, 101–250 Mid, 251+ Small. The rest is debt, cash, foreign holdings or fund units, which AMFI does not rank.

Concentration

Number of stocks129
Top 5 stocks10.79%
Top 10 stocks18.52%
Top 20 stocks30.85%
Largest single holding2.43%
Largest sectorChemicals & Petrochemicals · 8.33%
Number of sectors34
Effective stocks107.7
Cash & equivalents8.01%

Counting positions overstates diversification. The effective-stocks figure is the honest count: a portfolio can hold seventy names and still have most of its money in twenty.

Sector allocation

Chemicals & Petrochemicals — 8.3%Cash & Equivalents — 8.0%Industrial Products — 7.8%Banks — 7.7%Auto Components — 7.6%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology — 7.3%Finance — 6.4%Healthcare Services — 5.7%Consumer Durables — 4.0%Other — 37.2%Chemicals & Petrochemicals8.3%Cash & Equivalents8.0%Industrial Products7.8%Banks7.7%Auto Components7.6%Pharmaceuticals & Biotech…7.3%Finance6.4%Healthcare Services5.7%Consumer Durables4.0%Other37.2%
Where the equity money sits, by industry.

Largest holdings

Top 10 are 22.3% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.

Clearing Corporation of India Ltd 5.05%
Krishna Institute Of Medical Sciences Limited 2.43%
Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited 2.39%
CCL Products (India) Limited 2.31%
City Union Bank Limited 1.91%
Sai Life Sciences Limited 1.75%
Brigade Enterprises Limited 1.71%
Sansera Engineering Limited 1.66%
Clearing Corporation of India Ltd 1.59%
Avalon Technologies Limited 1.52%
Navin Fluorine International Limited 1.44%
Craftsman Automation Limited 1.40%

Disclosed holdings from the AMC's AMFI filing, largest first. A portfolio is filed monthly and shifts between filings — this is the most recent one loaded, not a live book.

What the manager did last month

Between the filing of 31 Jul 2026 and 31 Aug 2026. A position grows for two reasons — the manager bought more, or the price went up — and only the first is a decision. The share count is what separates them, because it moves only when somebody trades.

Bought₹152 cr shares added, valued at this filing
Sold₹254 cr shares reduced or exited
New positions3 stocks not held a month ago
Sold out of2 stocks fully exited
Price move of what it held +5.37% the market's doing, not the manager's

Swipe the table sideways for share counts, price change and values.

Stock Shares traded Change in shares Change in price Value of the trade₹ crore Position now₹ crore
New positiondid not hold this a month ago 3
Cyient Limited 2,500,000 entered — 294 294
Dhoot Transmission Ltd 635,825 entered — 93.8 93.8
SPR Auto Technologies Ltd 73,053 entered — 33.7 33.7
Added tobought more shares than last month 7
Piramal Finance Limited 222,157 +23.4% +11.9% 51.1 269
PNB Housing Finance Limited 400,000 +13.4% +9.1% 46.0 389
CreditAccess Grameen Limited 170,000 +11.1% -14.4% 23.2 232
Inventurus Knowledge Solutions Limited 111,600 +12.1% -6.2% 19.4 180
Aadhar Housing Finance Limited 105,000 +5.7% -5.8% 4.9 91.3
Affle 3i Limited 29,453 +2.4% +0.8% 4.7 205
Apar Industries Limited 1,404 +1.4% +23.4% 2.5 181
Trimmedcut the share count, without selling out 8
Laurus Labs Limited 460,760 -28.5% +5.4% 88.2 222
Jain Resource Recycling Limited 2,385,358 -83.8% -20.5% 66.0 12.7
Can Fin Homes Limited 718,981 -17.3% -3.1% 57.2 274
Bharat Dynamics Limited 165,370 -15.9% +1.8% 21.1 112
Torrent Pharmaceuticals Limited 36,560 -2.4% -1.1% 18.5 753
Ahluwalia Contracts (India) Limited 21,769 -0.7% -24.6% 1.4 198
HeidelbergCement India Limited 72,794 -1.5% +3.1% 1.2 74.6
Sansera Engineering Limited 1,997 -0.2% +20.1% 0.8 522
Sold out ofheld last month, gone this month 2
Mahanagar Gas Limited 977,847 exited — 110 —
Whirlpool of India Limited 694,567 exited — 55.8 —

Only stocks and fund units are listed. Treasury bills, repo and money-market lines roll over every month by design — they are larger in rupees than most equity trades and are not decisions, so they are summarised as cash above rather than listed as activity. Share counts and values are the fund house's own filing. What a position cost when it was first bought is in no monthly disclosure, so a value here is what the shares were worth at the later filing, not what was paid.

How it compares in its category

Against the Small Cap Regular schemes with the highest three-year return. Same category, same plan — the only comparison that means anything. The list re-sorts itself as returns move; it is an ordering by one number, not a view on which fund anyone should hold.

Return window
Scheme Return Alpha Beta Volatility Sharpe Max fall
Axis Small Cap Fund Axis Mutual Fund · this scheme 4.1% -10.4% 0.87 16.7% -0.15 -41.3%
BANDHAN Small Cap Fund Bandhan Mutual Fund 22.3% 10.6% 0.71 17.1% 0.93 -25.2%
ITI Small Cap Fund ITI Mutual Fund 21.9% 0.0% 0.92 19.8% 0.78 -40.0%
Invesco India Small Cap Fund Invesco Mutual Fund 20.5% 5.7% 0.84 17.9% 0.78 -37.7%
BANK OF INDIA SMALL CAP FUND Bank of India Mutual Fund 19.0% 9.1% 0.84 17.8% 0.70 -32.5%
Mahindra Manulife Small Cap Fund Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund 17.8% 6.8% 0.87 16.8% 0.67 -26.4%
LIC MF Small Cap Fund LIC Mutual Fund 16.4% 2.0% 0.95 18.8% 0.53 -27.2%
DSP Small Cap Fund DSP Mutual Fund 15.7% 3.9% 0.90 20.2% 0.46 -74.7%
Quant Small Cap Fund quant Mutual Fund 15.8% 12.6% 0.93 48.7% 0.19 -69.7%

Alpha and beta are against Nifty Smallcap 250. Max fall is the deepest peak-to-trough drop in each fund's own history, so a longer-running fund has had more chances to record a bad one. Click a column to sort. This is a sort, not a ranking, and nothing here is a recommendation.

What a Small Cap scheme is

At least 65% in companies ranked 251st and below.

The highest return and the highest pain in Indian equity. These companies are thinly traded, so a fund that grows too large struggles to buy and sell without moving the price — which is why good small-cap funds close to new money.

Who it suits. Only money that will not be needed for a decade, and only alongside steadier funds.

How long money should stay. 10 years or more.

Compare this scheme with others →

Questions people ask

What is the NAV of Axis Small Cap Fund — Regular Plan — IDCW Option?

₹46.2300 as on 24 Sep 2026, from AMFI's daily NAV file. NAV is declared once each business day after markets close, so the figure here is the most recent one published.

What is the difference between the Direct and Regular plan of Axis Small Cap Fund?

They hold the identical portfolio, run by the same manager. A Regular plan pays a distributor commission out of the fund, inside its expense ratio — commonly 0.5% to 1.2% a year more than Direct. That difference is charged on the whole balance, every year, so it compounds: on ₹1,00,000 held ten years a gap of 1.5 percentage points is roughly ₹1.4 lakh of ending value. Direct is the same fund without the commission.

What does the IDCW Option option mean?

An IDCW option pays part of the fund's gains out to you, and the NAV falls by exactly what it pays. It is not extra return — it is your own money returned, taxed at your slab rate. That also means a return computed from NAV alone understates an IDCW scheme, which is why no CAGR is shown here for it.

What kind of scheme is this?

At least 65% in companies ranked 251st and below. The highest return and the highest pain in Indian equity. These companies are thinly traded, so a fund that grows too large struggles to buy and sell without moving the price — which is why good small-cap funds close to new money.

How long should money stay in it?

Typically 10 years or more. Only money that will not be needed for a decade, and only alongside steadier funds.