InvestVerdict· Mutual Funds

SBI SMALL CAP FUND

Option Growth IDCW
Category Small Cap →

Fund basics

Launched18 Nov 2013 12.8 years of history
CategorySmall CapSEBI classification
Plan & optionDirect · Growth code 125497
BenchmarkNifty Smallcap 250 used for alpha & beta below
NAV as on27 Aug 2026source AMFI

Computed from 3,154 published NAVs between 18 Nov 2013 and 28 Aug 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
SBI SMALL CAP FUND Direct 4.4011.6717.07 11.2113.4516.03 22.4219.2624.55
Nifty Smallcap 250 benchmark 2.989.0516.58 11.7516.72 19.67
Small Cap category median · 26 funds 11.9118.3117.79 17.70

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 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 27 Aug 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
SBI SMALL CAP FUND Direct 14.98 0.46 0.65 0.75 -1.84 -40.26
Nifty Smallcap 250 benchmark 17.59 0.58 0.78 -26.19

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

Against its benchmark

Regressed on the 46 months this fund and Nifty Smallcap 250 (via SBI Nifty Smallcap 250 Index Fund) both have. Alpha is Jensen's — the return left over after the market move this fund's own beta would predict.

AlphaBetaFund vs indexUp captureDown captureTracking errorInformation ratioTreynor
-1.84%0.7592%-5.66%73%71%6.82%-0.8312.88

Up and down capture are the pair worth reading together: a fund that takes 95% of the rises but only 80% of the falls is doing something a headline CAGR will never show you.

Risk

VolatilityDownside volatilitySharpeSortino
15.0%10.8%0.460.65

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

The worst it has been

Deepest fallTime to recoverToday, from its peak
-40.3%8 monthsAt a high
0%-14%-28%-42%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
128.0%19.5%-22.7%17%
Worst-22.7%Median19.5%Best128.0%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

49.1%20219.3%202226.6%202325.3%2024-4.1%202511.6%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 ₹859,733 today, an XIRR of 14.38% 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

92.80%Equity
5.95%Cash & Equivalents
1.25%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

AMFI has not classified this scheme's holdings into large, mid and small cap in the filing we hold, so there is no split to show. The section is left here rather than hidden so it is clear the data is missing, not that the fund holds nothing.

Concentration

Number of stocks72
Top 5 stocks17.20%
Top 10 stocks29.56%
Top 20 stocks49.59%
Largest single holding5.71%
Largest sectorAuto Components · 9.42%
Number of sectors29
Effective stocks53.6
Cash & equivalents5.95%

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

Auto Components — 9.4%Chemicals & Petrochemicals — 9.3%Consumer Durables — 8.9%Industrial Products — 8.7%Finance — 6.2%Cash & Equivalents — 6.0%Automobiles — 5.7%Construction — 4.9%Banks — 4.4%Other — 36.5%Auto Components9.4%Chemicals & Petrochemicals9.3%Consumer Durables8.9%Industrial Products8.7%Finance6.2%Cash & Equivalents6.0%Automobiles5.7%Construction4.9%Banks4.4%Other36.5%
Where the equity money sits, by industry.

Largest holdings

Top 10 are 33.7% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.

TREPS 6.41%
Ather Energy Ltd. 5.71%
Navin Fluorine International Ltd. 3.12%
Honeywell Automation India Ltd. 2.95%
City Union Bank Ltd. 2.72%
Kalpataru Projects International Ltd. 2.70%
ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India Ltd. 2.68%
Belrise Industries Ltd. 2.59%
Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Ltd. 2.50%
Sundram Fasteners Ltd. 2.33%
K.P.R. Mill Ltd. 2.26%
NHPC Ltd. 2.23%

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 Small Cap 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
SBI SMALL CAP FUND SBI Mutual Fund · this scheme 13.5% -1.8% 0.75 15.0% 0.46 -40.3%
ITI Small Cap Fund ITI Mutual Fund 27.1% 10.2% 0.85 19.9% 1.04 -39.9%
BANDHAN Small Cap Fund Bandhan Mutual Fund 26.5% 9.6% 0.90 17.1% 1.17 -24.3%
Invesco India Smallcap Fund Invesco Mutual Fund 24.9% 7.9% 0.83 18.0% 1.02 -37.7%
BANK OF INDIA SMALL CAP FUND Bank of India Mutual Fund 23.7% 5.6% 0.93 17.9% 0.96 -32.4%
Mahindra Manulife Small Cap Fund Mahindra Manulife Mutual Fund 22.5% 9.3% 0.87 16.8% 0.95 -26.0%
LIC MF Small Cap Fund LIC Mutual Fund 20.1% 3.3% 0.95 18.9% 0.72 -27.0%
Union Small Cap Fund Union Mutual Fund 19.2% 2.9% 0.84 16.9% 0.75 -44.7%
DSP Small Cap Fund DSP Mutual Fund 19.2% 3.6% 0.92 16.3% 0.78 -49.1%

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 SBI SMALL CAP FUND — Direct Plan — Growth?

₹215.9822 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 SBI 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 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 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.