88% equity mutual funds offer negative returns in 2025, lose up to 21%

Around 88% equity mutual funds have offered negative returns in the current calendar year so far. There were around 279 equity mutual funds in the mentioned time period, of which 246 have offered negative returns. In other words, only 33 funds have offered positive returns in the mentioned period.Out of 246 funds, 44 gave double-digit negative returns. Samco Flexi Cap Fund lost the most in the current calendar year of around 20.66%, followed by two small cap funds. LIC MF Small Cap Fund and HSBC Small Cap Fund delivered a negative return of 18.97% and 17.33% respectively in the said time period.
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Two ELSS funds – Samco ELSS Tax Saver Fund and Motilal Oswal ELSS Tax Saver Fund – lost 17.16% and 16.98% respectively in 2025 so far. Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund gave a negative return of 16.10% in the mentioned period.

Two schemes from Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund – Motilal Oswal Large & Midcap Fund and Motilal Oswal Focused Fund – offered a negative return of 14.98% and 4.82% respectively in the current calendar year so far.

Seven small cap funds – Edelweiss Small Cap Fund, Aditya Birla SL Small Cap Fund, Franklin India Smaller Cos Fund, HDFC Small Cap Fund, Nippon India Small Cap Fund, Bandhan Small Cap Fund, and ITI Small Cap Fund – lost ranging between 11.49% to 12.11% in the said period.SBI Small Cap Fund delivered a negative return of 10.33% in the current calendar year so far. The second largest mid cap fund based on assets managed, Kotak Emerging Equity Fund, lost 10.11% in the similar time frame. Sundaram Small Cap Fund was the last one to lose in double-digits. The scheme lost 10.07% in the same period, followed by Union Midcap Fund which lost 9.91% in the same period.

Baroda BNP Paribas Multi Cap Fund and Groww ELSS Tax Saver Fund lost 9.57% each in the current calendar year so far. Quant Small Cap Fund has offered a negative return of 9.07% in the said time period.

NJ Flexi Cap Fund and Mirae Asset Midcap Fund gave a negative return of 7.85% each in the mentioned time period.

Two multi caps – Canara Rob Multi Cap Fund and Franklin India Multi Cap Fund – lost 5.57% and 5.54% respectively in 2025 so far, followed by Canara Rob Emerg Equities Fund which lost 5.26% in the same period.

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Quant Mid Cap Fund and Quant Large Cap Fund offered a negative return of 5.12% and 5.10% respectively in 2025 so far. SBI Long Term Equity Fund, the oldest ELSS fund, gave a negative return of 2.02% in the current calendar year, followed by PGIM India Flexi Cap Fund and Groww Largecap Fund which also delivered similar negative returns.

Three large caps – Edelweiss Large Cap Fund, Bajaj Finserv Large Cap Fund, and Nippon India Large Cap Fund – lost 0.06%, 0.04%, and 0.03% respectively and were in the last of negative performers.

Positive performers

Among the 33 funds that gave positive returns in the current calendar year, two schemes from ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund – ICICI Pru Large & Mid Cap Fund and ICICI Pru Value Discovery Fund – gave 3.89% and 3.10%, the highest return in the said period.

HDFC Flexi Cap Fund offered a return of 3.04% in 2025 so far. Seven large caps delivered returns ranging between 0.90% to 1.38% in the said period.

Parag Parikh ELSS Tax Saver Fund offered a return of 0.33% in the similar time frame. Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund, the largest flexi cap fund based on assets managed, was the last one to offer positive return. The scheme gave 0.13% in the mentioned period.

We considered all equity mutual funds in the mentioned period. We considered regular and growth options. We calculated the returns from January 1, 2025 to May 2, 2025.

Note, the above exercise is not a recommendation. The exercise was done to evaluate the performance of equity mutual funds in the current calendar year so far.

One should not make investment or redemption decisions based on the above exercise. One should always consider their risk appetite, investment horizon, and goals before making any investment decisions.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)