Quant Large & Mid Cap Fund recorded a 22.5% return over the last three months, outpacing major competitors like Invesco and Motilal Oswal. While the fund has shown strong short-term gains, investors should assess consistency across longer timeframes rather than relying solely on recent performance.
What Happened
Quant Large & Mid Cap Fund has emerged as the top-performing scheme in its category over a three-month period, delivering a 22.5% return as of June 24, 2026. This performance was analyzed using data from ACE MF for funds with a minimum assets under management (AUM) of Rs 1,500 crore.
In the same three-month window, peers also showed notable returns, with Invesco India Large & Mid Cap Fund delivering 20.5% and Motilal Oswal Large & Midcap Fund returning 17.7%. Among the top five funds by AUM in this category, Motilal Oswal Large & Midcap Fund remains the largest, managing a corpus of Rs 17,420.4 crore.
Performance Across Different Horizons
While the recent three-month figures highlight short-term momentum, mutual fund performance often varies significantly across different time horizons. The data indicates that being the leader in one period does not guarantee leadership in another.
For instance, while the Quant fund led the category in the three-month and six-month return charts (with 7.6% gain over six months), the top performer for the one-year period was the HSBC Large & Mid Cap Fund, which returned 10.6%. Over the longer three-year period, Invesco India Large & Mid Cap Fund secured the strongest return among the top five, at 24.0%.
Quant Large & Mid Cap Fund has shown resilience in longer-term comparisons against its own benchmark. Over a one-year period, it outperformed its benchmark by 9.8 percentage points, in a year where the benchmark saw a negative return of -2.9%. Similarly, over a three-year window, it led its benchmark by 8.1 percentage points.
The Importance Of Long-Term Consistency
Large-and-mid-cap funds aim to balance the stability of well-established large companies with the growth potential of smaller, mid-sized firms. However, these funds can experience different cycles of performance depending on market conditions.
Investors often see high returns in short-term windows when a fund manager's active strategy aligns perfectly with market trends. However, market experts often advise looking at three-to-five-year performance rather than just three months. A fund that performs exceptionally well in the short term may also carry higher volatility, which can lead to larger fluctuations in the portfolio value.
What Investors Should Track
When evaluating a large-and-mid-cap fund, investors may look beyond return percentages:
- Consistency: Check how the fund has performed across multiple years, not just the current quarter.
- Risk Metrics: Look for volatility indicators, such as the standard deviation of the fund, to understand if the higher returns come with higher risk.
- Portfolio Turnover: A high turnover ratio suggests that the fund manager is actively buying and selling stocks frequently. While this can lead to high short-term performance, it can also lead to higher transaction costs within the fund.
- Benchmark Comparison: Always compare the fund's returns against its specific benchmark index rather than just other funds, to understand how much 'alpha' (extra return) the manager is generating.