InvestVerdict· Mutual Funds

Axis Ultra Short Term Fund

Fund basics

Launched12 Sep 2018 8.0 years of history
CategoryUltra Short DurationSEBI classification
Plan & optionDirect · Growth Option code 144754
Benchmark no equity benchmark for this category
NAV as on27 Aug 2026source AMFI

Computed from 1,933 published NAVs between 12 Sep 2018 and 28 Aug 2026 — 8.0 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 Ultra Short Term Fund Direct 0.582.103.50 6.717.446.73 6.466.77
Ultra Short Duration category median · 32 funds 6.417.226.51 6.66

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 Direct plan in Ultra Short Duration — the middle fund, not a ranking, and a median rather than an average so that one mis-stated scheme cannot move it. As on 27 Aug 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
Axis Ultra Short Term Fund Direct 0.51 1.84 5.26 -0.81

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

Risk

VolatilityDownside volatilitySharpeSortino
0.5%0.2%1.845.26

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

The worst it has been

Deepest fallTime to recoverToday, from its peak
-0.8%0 monthsAt a high

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
9.2%7.1%3.8%0%
Worst3.8%Median7.1%Best9.2%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

4.1%20215.1%20227.5%20237.9%20247.5%20254.5%2026InvestVerdict
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 ₹720,028 today, an XIRR of 7.23% 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

87.08%Debt
12.24%Cash & Equivalents
0.40%REITs / InvITs
0.29%AIF Units

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

Large
Mid
Small
Unclassified 87.8%87.8%Unclassified 87.8%
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 stocks77
Top 5 stocks16.66%
Top 10 stocks29.61%
Top 20 stocks48.66%
Largest single holding3.90%
Largest sectorCRISIL A1+ · 22.30%
Number of sectors18
Effective stocks59.7
Cash & equivalents12.24%

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

CRISIL A1+ — 22.3%CARE A1+ — 17.5%Cash & Equivalents — 12.2%CRISIL AAA — 9.7%IND A1+ — 7.8%ICRA AA+ — 5.7%ICRA AA — 5.5%CRISIL AA+ — 5.2%Other — 14.1%CRISIL A1+22.3%CARE A1+17.5%Cash & Equivalents12.2%CRISIL AAA9.7%IND A1+7.8%ICRA AA+5.7%ICRA AA5.5%CRISIL AA+5.2%Other14.1%
Where the equity money sits, by industry.

Largest holdings

Top 10 are 38.6% 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 11.37%
Bank of Baroda (04/12/2026) 3.90%
7.77% REC Limited (30/09/2026) 3.40%
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Limited (18/08/2026) 3.19%
National Bank For Agriculture and Rural Development (14/01/2027) 3.09%
Small Industries Dev Bank of India (28/01/2027) 3.08%
Canara Bank (12/02/2027) 3.07%
HDFC Bank Limited (21/09/2026) 2.77%
The Federal Bank Limited (15/09/2026) 2.38%
Punjab National Bank (15/09/2026) 2.38%
HDFC Bank Limited (13/11/2026) 2.35%
Punjab National Bank (15/12/2026) 2.33%

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.

How it compares in its category

Against the Ultra Short Duration Direct 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 Ultra Short Term Fund Axis Mutual Fund · this scheme 7.4% 0.5% 1.84 -0.8%
Nippon India Ultra Short Term Fund Nippon India Mutual Fund 7.6% 2.0% 0.53 -5.2%
Tata Ultra Short Term Fund Tata Mutual Fund 7.5% 0.5% 2.18 -0.7%
Aditya Birla Sun Life Savings Fund Aditya Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund 7.5% 0.6% 1.56 -1.2%
Mirae Asset Ultra Short to Short Term Fund Mirae Asset Mutual Fund 7.5% 0.7% 1.38 -1.4%
Mirae Asset Ultra Short-Term Fund Mirae Asset Mutual Fund 7.4% 0.3% 2.74 -0.2%
DSP Ultra Short Term Fund DSP Mutual Fund 7.4% 0.6% 1.60 -1.1%
ICICI Prudential Ultra Short term Fund ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund 7.4% 1.7% 0.53 -7.5%
Invesco India Ultra Short Term Fund Invesco Mutual Fund 7.3% 0.9% 0.98 -2.7%

Alpha and beta are against the category index. 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 Ultra Short Duration scheme is

Portfolio duration of 3 to 6 months.

A step out from liquid funds for slightly more return and slightly more movement. Still short enough that a rate change barely registers.

Who it suits. Money needed in three to six months.

How long money should stay. 3 to 6 months.

Compare this scheme with others →

Questions people ask

What is the NAV of Axis Ultra Short Term Fund — Direct Plan — Growth Option?

₹16.8618 as on 27 Aug 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 Ultra Short Term 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 Growth option mean?

Growth reinvests everything the fund earns back into the NAV. Nothing is paid out, so the NAV rises with returns and you are taxed only when you sell. For anybody who does not need income from the investment, Growth is the simpler and usually the more tax-efficient option.

What kind of scheme is this?

Portfolio duration of 3 to 6 months. A step out from liquid funds for slightly more return and slightly more movement. Still short enough that a rate change barely registers.

How long should money stay in it?

Typically 3 to 6 months. Money needed in three to six months.