Indian active mutual funds are still finding it hard to beat their benchmarks on a sustained basis, especially in the large-cap and mid-cap segments. That reflects a broader challenge for active managers, as market indices remain a difficult hurdle to clear over time.
Even so, the Indian market appears to offer a relatively better backdrop for active equity funds than many major global markets. While underperformance versus benchmarks remains a concern, Indian active funds reportedly stack up more favorably when compared with similar products overseas.
The gap is particularly notable in smaller-company strategies. Small-cap funds in India seem to show stronger potential for active managers to add value, suggesting that less efficient parts of the market may still create room for stock selection to matter more than it does in larger, more closely tracked segments.
Overall, the picture is mixed for investors. Benchmark-beating remains difficult for Indian active mutual funds, but their results are still better than those of many global peers, with small-cap categories standing out as a relative bright spot.
