39% of equity mutual funds outperform respective benchmarks in March

Around 38.64% equity mutual funds outperformed their respective benchmarks over the past month, ending March 31, 2025. There were 298 open-ended equity diversified funds and 114 funds recorded outperformance during this period, according to a mutual fund performance analysis by PL Wealth Management.

Large cap mutual funds was the best performing category where 71.88% of the schemes outperformed the benchmark. It was followed by Large & Mid Cap Funds and Mid Cap Funds which outperformed their respective benchmarks by 58.06% and 51.72% respectively during the month of March 2025.

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Source: ACE MF

Small Cap Funds were the least performing fund category with 10.00% of funds outperforming the benchmark.

The AUM (assets under management) of equity mutual funds—excluding Sectoral/Thematic Funds— witnessed a modest growth of 7.68% from Rs 23.12 lakh crore in February 2025 to Rs 24.90 lakh crore in March 2025.

For the month ended March, 2025, monthly returns of Nifty 50 TRI, Nifty Midcap 150 TRI & Nifty Small Cap 250 TRI were 6.31%, 7.73% & 9.10% respectively.

For the 1-year ended March, 2025, returns of Nifty 50 TRI, Nifty Mid Cap 150 TRI & Nifty Small Cap 250 TRI returns were 6.65%, 8.17% & 6.02% respectively.

Out of the 271 open-ended equity diversified funds, about 57.56% of the funds were able to outperform their respective benchmarks over the past one year, ending March, 2025. Last month, 67.02% of the schemes were able to beat their benchmarks.

“Investors are advised to stick to their SIP investments and keep a long-term focus. SIPs over the past 3-years have yielded a return in excess of ~12% p.a. on an average for the top quartile equity funds,” the study further mentioned.

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