InvestVerdict· Mutual Funds

HDFC Credit Risk Fund

Direct Plan Growth Option Credit Risk HDFC Mutual Fund Code 128051 ISIN INF179KA1FZ3

Fund basics

Launched25 Mar 2014 12.4 years of history
CategoryCredit RiskSEBI classification
Plan & optionDirect · Growth Option code 128051
Benchmark no equity benchmark for this category
NAV as on25 Aug 2026source AMFI

Returns

Returns for this scheme are not computed yet — we need at least three years of published NAV. The NAV above is today's, straight from AMFI.

Direct vs Regular — same portfolio, two prices

The same fund, the same manager, the same shares. The only difference is the distributor commission inside the Regular plan's expense ratio — charged every year, on the whole balance.

PlanNAV1y3y5y
Direct (this page) 28.3099 7.67% 8.32% 7.22%
Regular 26.0363 7.08% 7.69% 6.58%

0.64 percentage points a year separate them over five years. On ₹1,00,000 left for ten years that is ₹200,797 against ₹189,129 — ₹11,669 for holding the same portfolio under a different label.

Everything the NAV says

Computed from 3,000 published NAVs between 25 Mar 2014 and 27 Aug 2026 — 12.4 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
HDFC Credit Risk Fund Direct 0.692.983.86 7.928.297.21 8.037.978.73
Credit Risk category median · 18 funds 8.178.817.44 7.88

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 Credit Risk — the middle fund, not a ranking, and a median rather than an average so that one mis-stated scheme cannot move it. As on 25 Aug 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
HDFC Credit Risk Fund Direct 1.44 1.24 2.20 -2.58

Risk measures use a risk-free rate of 6.5% and are stated so they can be checked — a ratio quoted without its risk-free rate cannot be. Beta and alpha need an index, so they are blank for the benchmark row itself.

Risk

VolatilityDownside volatilitySharpeSortino
1.4%0.8%1.242.20

Sharpe and Sortino use a risk-free rate of 6.5%, roughly the 10-year government bond. Both are stated so the figure can be checked — a ratio quoted without its risk-free rate cannot be.

The worst it has been

Deepest fallTime to recoverToday, from its peak
-2.6%3 monthsAt a high
0%-1%-1%-2%201620182020202220242026
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
13.6%8.6%3.6%0%
Worst3.6%Median8.6%Best13.6%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

7.6%20214.4%20227.3%20238.9%20248.6%20255.1%2026
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 ₹732,945 today, an XIRR of 7.95% 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

91.37%Debt
5.97%REITs / InvITs
2.33%Cash & Equivalents
0.33%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
0.97%Mid
Small
Mid Cap 1.0%Unclassified 96.7%96.7%Mid Cap 1.0%Unclassified 96.7%
Against AMFI's half-yearly ranking — companies 1–100 by market value are Large, 101–250 Mid, 251 and below Small. The rest is unclassified — debt, cash, foreign holdings, gold or fund units, which AMFI does not rank. This is what tells you whether a fund is living up to its category label or quietly drifting.

Concentration

Number of stocks93
Top 5 stocks18.01%
Top 10 stocks31.60%
Top 20 stocks53.55%
Largest single holding4.78%
Largest sectorCRISIL - AA · 17.97%
Number of sectors27
Effective stocks52.0
Cash & equivalents2.33%

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 - AA — 18.0%Sovereign — 10.7%CRISIL - AAA — 10.2%ICRA - AA- — 6.1%ICRA - AA — 6.1%CARE - AA+ — 4.9%CRISIL - A+ — 4.8%Transport Infrastructure — 4.3%CARE - AA- — 3.6%Other — 31.4%CRISIL - AA18.0%Sovereign10.7%CRISIL - AAA10.2%ICRA - AA-6.1%ICRA - AA6.1%CARE - AA+4.9%CRISIL - A+4.8%Transport Infrastructure4.3%CARE - AA-3.6%Other31.4%
Where the equity money sits, by industry. The biggest few sectors decide most of what this fund does in any given year — a fund heavy in one sector is making a bet, whether or not its name says so.

Largest holdings

Top 10 are 31.6% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.

GMR Airports Limited 4.78%
Nirma Ltd. 3.91%
Tata Projects Ltd. 3.26%
Indus Infra Trust 3.11%
The Tata Power Company Ltd. 2.95%
Indusind Bank Ltd. 2.88%
Jubilant Beverages Limited 2.76%
ADITYA BIRLA RENEWABLES LIMITED 2.74%
Bamboo Hotel and Global Centre (Delhi) Private Limited 2.61%
Kalpataru Projects International Ltd 2.60%
SK FINANCE LIMITED 2.60%
Jubilant Bevco Limited 2.56%

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 with its closest peers

The same category, the same plan, the same option — the only comparison that means anything. A Credit Risk Direct Plan Growth Option scheme against another of exactly the same kind.

Return window
Scheme Return Alpha Beta Volatility Sharpe Max fall
HDFC Credit Risk Fund HDFC Mutual Fund · this scheme 8.3% 1.4% 1.24 -2.6%
Axis Credit Risk Fund Axis Mutual Fund 8.9% 1.5% 1.54 -3.5%
Nippon India Credit Risk Fund (Existing Number of Segregated Portfolios - 1) Nippon India Mutual Fund 8.9% 3.9% 0.63 -13.8%
Nippon India Credit Risk Fund (Existing Number of Segregated Portfolios - 1) Nippon India Mutual Fund 212.2% 0.39 -25.6%

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 Credit Risk scheme is

At least 65% in debt rated AA and below.

Paid to take credit risk, and that risk is real: a single default can mark the whole portfolio down and freeze redemptions. Read what it holds before the return.

Who it suits. Investors who understand corporate credit and are sizing this small.

How long money should stay. 3 years or more.

Compare this scheme with others →

Questions people ask

What is the NAV of HDFC Credit Risk Fund — Direct Plan — Growth Option?

₹28.3099 as on 25 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 HDFC Credit Risk 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?

At least 65% in debt rated AA and below. Paid to take credit risk, and that risk is real: a single default can mark the whole portfolio down and freeze redemptions. Read what it holds before the return.

How long should money stay in it?

Typically 3 years or more. Investors who understand corporate credit and are sizing this small.