InvestVerdict· Mutual Funds

Nippon India Small Cap Fund

Regular Plan Bonus Option Small Cap Nippon India Mutual Fund Code 113178 ISIN INF204K01HZ0

Fund basics

Launched21 Sep 2010 15.9 years of history
CategorySmall CapSEBI classification
Plan & optionRegular · Bonus Option code 113178
BenchmarkNifty Smallcap 250 used for alpha & beta below
NAV as on26 Aug 2026source AMFI

Returns

No CAGR is shown for an Bonus Option scheme, and that is deliberate. Its NAV falls by every payout it makes, so a return computed from NAV alone understates it by exactly the amount distributed — and AMFI's daily file carries no payout history to add back. A wrong number wearing the right label is worse than an honest gap. The Growth option of this same fund is the one to compare on returns.

Regular vs Direct — 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
Regular (this page) 186.5250
Direct 210.7198

The two NAVs are 11.5% apart today. They started life at the same ₹10 — the whole of that gap is what the commission has taken out of the Regular plan since launch.

Everything the NAV says

Computed from 3,923 published NAVs between 21 Sep 2010 and 27 Aug 2026 — 15.9 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
Nippon India Small Cap Fund Regular 4.806.4014.14 12.0316.3819.73 26.8320.5120.16
Nifty Smallcap 250 benchmark 3.987.9714.97 10.1416.81 19.57
Small Cap category median · 28 funds 10.6016.8016.13 16.50

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 26 Aug 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
Nippon India Small Cap Fund Regular 16.56 0.60 0.81 0.86 2.47 -49.72
Nifty Smallcap 250 benchmark 17.60 0.59 0.79 -26.19

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
16.6%12.3%0.600.81

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
-49.7%9 monthsAt a high
0%-18%-37%-55%20122014201620182020202220242026
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
151.6%14.7%-32.7%25%
Worst-32.7%Median14.7%Best151.6%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

74.3%20216.5%202248.9%202326.1%2024-4.7%202512.0%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 ₹938,998 today, an XIRR of 17.98% 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

96.94%Equity
3.06%Cash & Equivalents

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

13.94%Large
13.38%Mid
69.62%Small
Large Cap 13.9%13.9%Mid Cap 13.4%13.4%Small Cap 69.6%69.6%Large Cap 13.9%Mid Cap 13.4%Small Cap 69.6%
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 stocks251
Top 5 stocks8.40%
Top 10 stocks14.36%
Top 20 stocks24.13%
Largest single holding2.03%
Largest sectorElectrical Equipment · 9.17%
Number of sectors48
Effective stocks157.2
Cash & equivalents3.06%

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

Electrical Equipment — 9.2%Auto Components — 7.5%Industrial Products — 7.1%Banks — 6.8%Consumer Durables — 6.2%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology — 5.7%Chemicals & Petrochemicals — 4.5%Capital Markets — 4.3%Finance — 4.2%Other — 44.4%Electrical Equipment9.2%Auto Components7.5%Industrial Products7.1%Banks6.8%Consumer Durables6.2%Pharmaceuticals & Biotech…5.7%Chemicals & Petrochemicals4.5%Capital Markets4.3%Finance4.2%Other44.4%
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 16.4% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.

Triparty Repo 3.10%
HDFC Bank Limited 2.03%
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited 1.82%
Apar Industries Limited 1.71%
TD Power Systems Limited 1.53%
State Bank of India 1.31%
Zydus Wellness Limited 1.27%
Karur Vysya Bank Limited 1.20%
Acme Solar Holdings Ltd 1.19%
Kirloskar Brothers Limited 1.19%
NLC India Limited 1.11%
Sai Life Sciences Limited 1.03%

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 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 Nippon India Small Cap Fund — Regular Plan — Bonus Option?

₹186.5250 as on 26 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 Nippon India 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 Bonus 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.