InvestVerdict· Mutual Funds

Tata Small Cap Fund

Direct Plan Growth Option Small Cap Tata Mutual Fund Code 145206 ISIN INF277K011O1

Fund basics

Launched13 Nov 2018 7.8 years of history
CategorySmall CapSEBI classification
Plan & optionDirect · Growth Option code 145206
BenchmarkNifty Smallcap 250 used for alpha & beta below
NAV as on26 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) 44.7974 -0.40% 13.61% 16.42%
Regular 39.3259 -1.68% 12.07% 14.64%

1.78 percentage points a year separate them over five years. On ₹1,00,000 left for ten years that is ₹457,379 against ₹392,068 — ₹65,310 for holding the same portfolio under a different label.

Everything the NAV says

Computed from 1,919 published NAVs between 13 Nov 2018 and 26 Aug 2026 — 7.8 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
Tata Small Cap Fund Direct 2.7710.8315.15 0.6613.0816.30 24.2121.22
Nifty Smallcap 250 benchmark 3.987.9714.97 10.1416.81 19.57
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 26 Aug 2026.

Risk measures

Fund name Volatility Sharpe Sortino Beta Alpha Max fall
Tata Small Cap Fund Direct 16.60 0.40 0.54 0.84 -0.68 -36.61
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.

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
-0.68%0.8488%-3.14%81%76%7.08%-0.4414.40

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
16.6%12.3%0.400.54

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
-36.6%6 months-9.8%
0%-12%-24%-36%2020202220242026
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
115.8%17.1%-27.6%19%
Worst-27.6%Median17.1%Best115.8%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

73.6%202110.3%202235.6%202333.5%2024-11.3%20257.8%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 ₹854,975 today, an XIRR of 14.15% 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

92.94%Equity
4.54%Cash & Equivalents
0.08%REITs / InvITs

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
7.49%Mid
85.13%Small
Mid Cap 7.5%Small Cap 85.1%85.1%Unclassified 0.4%Mid Cap 7.5%Small Cap 85.1%Unclassified 0.4%
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 stocks63
Top 5 stocks22.15%
Top 10 stocks36.22%
Top 20 stocks55.31%
Largest single holding6.55%
Largest sectorIndustrial Products · 20.43%
Number of sectors27
Effective stocks44.2
Cash & equivalents4.54%

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

Industrial Products — 20.4%Chemicals & Petrochemicals — 8.6%Consumer Durables — 6.8%Banks — 5.5%Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology — 5.0%Commercial Services & Supplies — 5.0%Auto Components — 4.7%Cash & Equivalents — 4.5%Industrial Manufacturing — 4.4%Other — 32.7%Industrial Products20.4%Chemicals & Petrochemicals8.6%Consumer Durables6.8%Banks5.5%Pharmaceuticals & Biotech…5.0%Commercial Services & Sup…5.0%Auto Components4.7%Cash & Equivalents4.5%Industrial Manufacturing4.4%Other32.7%
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 38.5% of the fund. A high number means a concentrated portfolio — fewer names doing more of the work, for better and for worse.

KIRLOSKAR PNEUMATIC COMPANY LTD 6.55%
USHA MARTIN LTD 4.60%
CASH / NET CURRENT ASSET 4.54%
IDFC FIRST BANK LTD 3.79%
GODREJ INDUSTRIES LTD 3.70%
SUDARSHAN CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES LTD 3.51%
TEGA INDUSTRIES LTD 3.45%
WOCKHARDT LTD 3.25%
CELLO WORLD LTD 2.84%
CARTRADE TECH LTD 2.28%
CARBORUNDUM UNIVERSAL LTD 2.25%
BASF INDIA LTD 2.19%

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 Small Cap Direct Plan Growth Option scheme against another of exactly the same kind.

Return window
Scheme Return Alpha Beta Volatility Sharpe Max fall
Tata Small Cap Fund Tata Mutual Fund · this scheme 13.1% -0.7% 0.84 16.6% 0.40 -36.6%
Axis Small Cap Fund Axis Mutual Fund 17.3% 2.6% 0.74 14.6% 0.74 -34.6%
Baroda BNP Paribas Small Cap Fund Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund 1.5% 0.82 16.9% 0.51 -25.0%
HDFC Small Cap Fund HDFC Mutual Fund 12.1% 1.2% 0.77 16.3% 0.34 -48.3%
ITI Small Cap Fund ITI Mutual Fund 26.9% 10.2% 0.85 19.9% 1.03 -39.9%
JM Small Cap Fund JM Financial Mutual Fund 6.5% 1.02 20.5% 0.13 -24.4%
Nippon India Small Cap Fund Nippon India Mutual Fund 17.3% 3.5% 0.86 17.1% 0.63 -48.6%
QUANTUM SMALL CAP FUND Quantum Mutual Fund 2.0% 0.71 14.2% 0.50 -18.2%
Quant Small Cap Fund quant Mutual Fund 19.3% 5.3% 0.88 20.0% 0.64 -51.6%

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 Tata Small Cap Fund — Direct Plan — Growth Option?

₹44.7974 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 Tata 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.