Should I invest in Axis Small Cap Fund?

We don't give personal investment advice. Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth is suitable for an investor whose:time horizon is **5+ years** — equity funds can drop 30-50% in bad years; horizons under 5 years materially raise the risk of selling at a lossrisk tolerance accepts seeing the portfolio fall sharply without panic-sellinggoal isn't capital preservation in the short termCross-check the numbers above against alternatives before deciding. Worst 5-year drawdown: 19.4%. 5-year CAGR: 17.10%.

Axis

Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth

Latest NAV

₹132.3000

As of

17 Jul 2026

3,110 NAV records on file

NAV history & peer comparison

All NAVs split-adjusted and normalised to 100 at the start of the selected period, so funds with very different absolute NAV scales can be compared on one axis.

Period

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Returns matrix

Fund return alongside the category average and peer rank for every standard window. Returns under one year are absolute; one year and longer are compound annualised (CAGR).

Window	Fund	Category avg	+/− vs avg	Rank	Quartile
1D	-0.70%	-0.55%	-0.15	30 / 36	Q4
1W	-0.68%	-0.78%	+0.09	15 / 36	Q2
2W	+0.52%	+0.21%	+0.30	14 / 36	Q2
1M	+2.97%	+2.84%	+0.13	17 / 36	Q2
3M	+9.36%	+10.77%	-1.41	24 / 36	Q3
6M	+10.93%	+14.16%	-3.23	24 / 34	Q3
YTD	+8.64%	+10.96%	-2.32	23 / 33	Q3
1Y	+4.12%	+6.25%	-2.14	20 / 32	Q3
2Y	+6.22%	+4.89%	+1.33	12 / 29	Q2
3Y	+16.88%	+18.29%	-1.41	15 / 25	Q3
4Y	+19.60%	+21.13%	-1.52	15 / 22	Q3
5Y	+17.10%	+17.21%	-0.11	13 / 22	Q3
7Y	+23.38%	+24.32%	-0.94	11 / 18	Q3
10Y	+19.94%	+18.28%	+1.65	4 / 13	Q2
Inception	+22.69%	+19.38%	+3.31	10 / 36	Q2

Quartile legend: Q1 top 25% Q2 25-50% Q3 50-75% Q4 bottom 25%

Calendar-year returns

Full-year performance vs category average. Current year is partial (year-to-date).

Year	Fund	Category avg	+/− vs avg	Rank
2026 YTD	+8.64%	+10.96%	-2.32	23 / 33
2025	-1.60%	-4.11%	+2.51	8 / 30
2024	+26.49%	+27.89%	-1.40	11 / 28
2023	+34.81%	+43.05%	-8.24	21 / 24
2022	+4.11%	+2.92%	+1.19	10 / 22
2021	+59.66%	+63.14%	-3.48	14 / 21
2020	+24.87%	+32.77%	-7.90	14 / 18
2019	+20.59%	+0.57%	+20.02	1 / 16
2018	-7.60%	-16.20%	+8.60	3 / 13
2017	+38.26%	+49.31%	-11.06	12 / 13
2016	+5.04%	+6.15%	-1.12	10 / 13

Rolling returns

Removes start-date bias by averaging CAGR over every overlapping N-year window in the fund's history. Higher average plus tight min/max plus high "% positive" = consistent.

1-Year rolling

+23.30%

142 windows

min -9.4% · max 97.4%

89% positive

3-Year rolling

+21.60%

118 windows

min 2.1% · max 40.6%

100% positive

5-Year rolling

+21.59%

93 windows

min 6.6% · max 34.6%

100% positive

7-Year rolling

+21.72%

69 windows

min 18.3% · max 25.2%

100% positive

SIP returns — historical "what if"

If you had invested every month in this fund over the chosen period, this is what your investment would be worth today.

Period

Total invested

₹ —

Today's value

₹ —

XIRR

Annualised

Wealth multiplier

Period	Total invested	Today's value	XIRR	Wealth multiplier

XIRR is the annualised internal rate of return on the SIP cash flow — invariant to the monthly amount. "Today's value" and "Total invested" scale linearly with the slider. Past performance does not guarantee future returns. Excludes exit load and taxes.

Risk profile

Risk-adjusted return and volatility, computed from monthly NAV returns over the trailing 3-year and 5-year windows.

Std deviation

16.09%

3-year · annualised

Sharpe ratio

0.64

vs risk-free 6.5%

Sortino ratio

1.00

Downside-only deviation

Max drawdown

-19.43%

Sep 2024 → Mar 2025

% positive months

69.4%

Share of monthly returns > 0 over the 3-year window

Sharpe / Sortino use a risk-free rate of 6.5% (1-year T-bill proxy). Higher Sharpe = more return per unit of total risk; higher Sortino = more return per unit of downside risk.

Peers in Small Cap Fund

Scheme	Fund house	NAV	As of
HDFC Small Cap Fund - Growth Option - Direct Plan	HDFC	₹160.5300	17 Jul 2026
Nippon India Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan Growth Plan - Bonus Option	Nippon India	₹203.5938	17 Jul 2026
SBI Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth	SBI	₹208.9152	17 Jul 2026
ICICI Prudential Smallcap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth	ICICI Prudential	₹100.5000	17 Jul 2026
Invesco India Smallcap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth	Invesco	₹52.7200	17 Jul 2026
BANDHAN SMALL CAP FUND - DIRECT PLAN GROWTH	Bandhan	₹55.5270	17 Jul 2026
quant Small Cap Fund - Growth Option - Direct Plan	Quant	₹313.4689	17 Jul 2026
QUANTUM SMALL CAP FUND - DIRECT PLAN GROWTH OPTION	Quantum	₹13.9100	17 Jul 2026
Aditya Birla Sun Life Small Cap Fund - Growth - Direct Plan	Aditya Birla Sun Life	₹109.4685	17 Jul 2026
Motilal Oswal Small Cap Fund - Direct - Growth	Motilal Oswal	₹16.8394	17 Jul 2026

Recent NAVs

Date	NAV
17 Jul 2026	₹132.3000
16 Jul 2026	₹133.2300
15 Jul 2026	₹133.1000
14 Jul 2026	₹132.4800
13 Jul 2026	₹133.6000
10 Jul 2026	₹133.2100
9 Jul 2026	₹131.5200
8 Jul 2026	₹129.1900
7 Jul 2026	₹131.3400
6 Jul 2026	₹132.2100

Frequently asked questions

These answers are generated from this fund's live metrics — NAV, returns, peer rank, drawdown, SIP backtest. Numbers refresh nightly after AMFI's NAV feed lands.

As of 17 Jul 2026, the NAV of Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth is ₹132.3000. It's a Small Cap Fund from Axis, run as a Direct plan Growth option. NAVs update once per business day from the AMFI feed.

Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth has NAV history starting from 05 Dec 2013, a track record of about 12 years 7 months. That's enough history to evaluate the fund across one or two market cycles. Look at rolling returns rather than point-to-point to judge consistency.

Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth is managed by Axis. It's classified by AMFI under the 'Small Cap Fund' SEBI category, which determines its peer set and tax treatment.

Over the trailing 1-year window, Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth has delivered a absolute return of 4.12% — -2.14 pp behind the Small Cap Fund category average of 6.25%. The fund ranks #20 of 32 in its category — the third (Q3) quartile.

Over the trailing 3-year window, Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth has delivered a CAGR of 16.88% — -1.41 pp behind the Small Cap Fund category average of 18.29%. The fund ranks #15 of 25 in its category — the third (Q3) quartile.

Over the trailing 5-year window, Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth has delivered a CAGR of 17.10% — -0.11 pp behind the Small Cap Fund category average of 17.21%. The fund ranks #13 of 22 in its category — the third (Q3) quartile.

₹1 lakh invested in Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth exactly 10 years ago would be worth approximately ₹615,920 today — a multiplier of 6.16×, based on the 10-year CAGR of 19.94%. The category average over the same window would have grown ₹1 lakh to ₹536,108.

A ₹10,000 monthly SIP in Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth over the last 5 years — total invested ₹600,000 — would be worth ₹898,105 today. That's an XIRR (money-weighted annualised return) of 16.14%.

A ₹10,000 monthly SIP for 10 years in Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth = ₹1,200,000 invested. It would currently be worth ₹3,578,409 (multiplier 2.98×). XIRR: 20.71%. Long-horizon SIP results matter more than point-to-point returns because they smooth out entry timing.

On a 5-year basis, Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth ranks #13 out of 22 funds in the Small Cap Fund category — that places it in the third quartile (Q3) — below the median. The category average return over the same window is 17.21%; this fund delivered 17.10%.

The worst peak-to-trough decline Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth has experienced over the last 5-year window is 19.43% — its NAV fell from a high on 23 Sep 2024 to a low on 03 Mar 2025. Drawdown is a useful gauge of how much short-term pain you'd have endured to capture the long-term return.

Across all 5-year rolling windows, Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth averaged 21.59% (best 34.64%, worst 6.58%). 100% of rolling windows ended positive. The 5-year Sharpe ratio is 0.67 — reasonable risk-adjusted performance.

In calendar year 2025, Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth returned -1.60% — beating the Small Cap Fund category average of -4.11% by 2.51 pp. It ranked #8 of 30 in its category that year.

Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth is classified as an Equity fund (at least 65% equity exposure). Tax rules (post Budget 2024): if you hold 12 months or more, gains are Long-Term and taxed at 12.5% on the amount exceeding ₹1.25 lakh per financial year. Held for under 12 months, gains are Short-Term and taxed at 20%. The ₹1.25 L exemption is per PAN per FY across all equity LTCG.

We don't give personal investment advice. Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth is suitable for an investor whose:

time horizon is **5+ years** — equity funds can drop 30-50% in bad years; horizons under 5 years materially raise the risk of selling at a loss
risk tolerance accepts seeing the portfolio fall sharply without panic-selling
goal isn't capital preservation in the short term

Cross-check the numbers above against alternatives before deciding. Worst 5-year drawdown: 19.4%. 5-year CAGR: 17.10%.

Educational content only — not investment advice. Tax rules summarised above reflect Budget 2024; consult a qualified adviser before transacting.

Axis Small Cap Fund - Direct Plan - Growth

NAV history & peer comparison

Returns matrix

Calendar-year returns

Rolling returns

SIP returns — historical "what if"

Risk profile

Peers in Small Cap Fund

Recent NAVs

Frequently asked questions

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