Small cap funds offer 26.07% average return in 2023; Mahindra Manulife Small Cap Fund give 35.53%

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

These actively-managed schemes are benchmarked against Nifty Smallcap 100 — TRI, Nifty Smallcap 250 — TRI, and S&P BSE 250 Small Cap — TRI. These benchmarks offered an average return of 31.74%, 29.75%, and 29.95% respectively.
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Nippon India Small Cap Fund, the largest actively-managed small cap scheme that manages Rs 36,539.54 crore, offered 31.87% in 2023, barely beating its benchmark (Nifty Smallcap 250 — TRI). HDFC Small Cap Fund gave 31.53% and managed to beat its benchmark by three percentage points. SBI Small Cap Fund, Axis Small Cap Fund, and Kotak Small Cap Fund failed to beat their respective benchmarks in 2023.
Mahindra Manulife Small Cap Fund was the topper in the category. The scheme offered 35.53% in 2023 so far. Bandhan Emerging Businesses Fund was in second place with 32.04%. Next five schemes offered around 31%. All these seven schemes managed to beat their respective benchmarks in 2023 so far.


Quarterly performance
ETMutualFunds also looked at the quarterly performance of small cap schemes during July-September quarter in 2023. The actively-managed schemes in the small cap category gave an average return of around 11.12% during the July-September quarter. There were around 24 actively-managed small cap schemes, only two schemes managed to outperform their respective benchmarks during the quarter. Around 22 small cap schemes failed to beat their benchmarks, indicating 92% of underperformance in July-September quarter 2023.
These actively-managed schemes are benchmarked against Nifty Smallcap 100 — TRI, Nifty Smallcap 250 — TRI, and S&P BSE 250 Small Cap — TRI.