A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF RISK AND RETURN ANALYSIS OF SELECTED MUTUAL FUNDS SCHEMES IN INDIA

Abstract

This study examines the risk and return performance of ten selected large-cap mutual fund schemes in India — Aditya Birla Sun Life Large Cap Fund, Axis Large Cap Fund, Bandhan Large Cap Fund, Baroda BNP Paribas Large Cap Fund, Canara Robeco Large Cap Fund, DSP Large Cap Fund, HDFC Large Cap Fund, HSBC Large Cap Fund, ICICI Prudential Large Cap Fund, and Invesco India Largecap Fund — over the fiveyear period 2021–2025, benchmarked against the NIFTY 50. The study is descriptive and analytical in nature and is based on secondary data drawn from AMFI, SEBI, Value Research, Morningstar, and the official websites of the respective asset management companies. Five key measures — Mean Return, Standard Deviation, Beta, Sharpe Ratio, and Jensens Alpha — are used to evaluate the return, volatility, systematic risk, and risk-adjusted performance of the selected schemes, and the schemes are ranked on the basis of their overall risk-adjusted performance. The results show that ICICI Prudential Large Cap Fund and HDFC Large Cap Fund delivered the strongest overall risk-adjusted performance, recording the highest Sharpe Ratios and positive Jensens Alpha values, while Axis Large Cap Fund recorded the lowest mean return and the weakest risk-adjusted performance among the selected schemes. The study concludes that risk-adjusted performance measures provide a more reliable basis for evaluating mutual fund schemes than returns alone, and that investors, financial advisors, and researchers should consider Standard Deviation, Beta, Sharpe Ratio, and Jensens Alpha together with historical returns while selecting large-cap mutual fund schemes for long-term investment. Keywords: Mutual Funds, Risk and Return, Large-Cap Funds, Sharpe Ratio, Jensens Alpha, Beta, NIFTY 50.