Nippon India Large Cap: The quiet runner big money bets on growth

It didn't chase the market: it studied it, outpaced it, and quietly scaled up

Launched in August 2007, Nippon India Large Cap Fund featured in the top decile of the largecap category in the Crisil Mutual Fund Ranking (CMFR) for three straight quarters through March 2025.

 

The fund’s assets under management rose from ₹11,204 crore at the end of March 2022 to ₹37,546 crore by March 2025.

 

Sailesh Raj Bhan and Bhavik Dave have been managing the fund since August 2007 and August 2024, respectively.

 

The scheme aims to deliver long-term capital growth and periodic income through a portfolio primarily focused on equity and equity-linked instruments of largecap companies. 

 

Trailing returns

 

Nippon India Large Cap Fund has outperformed both its benchmark and peers (as ranked under CMFR’s largecap category in March 2025) across the one-, two-, three-, five-, seven-, and 10-year trailing periods.

 

To illustrate: a ₹10,000 investment in the fund on August 8, 2007 (inception date), would have grown to ₹90,928 by July 17, 2025 — an annualised return of 13.08 per cent. The same investment in the category and benchmark would have grown to ₹70,273 (11.47 per cent) and ₹73,325 (11.74 per cent), respectively.

 

A systematic investment plan (SIP) is a disciplined way to invest in mutual funds, allowing investors to commit fixed sums at regular intervals.

 

A monthly SIP of ₹10,000 over 10 years — totalling ₹12 lakh — would have grown to ₹29.05 lakh (16.95 per cent annualised return) in this fund, compared with ₹25.9 lakh (14.81 per cent) for the benchmark as of July 17, 2025. The fund has consistently outperformed the benchmark across SIP periods of one, three, five, seven, and 10 years. 

 

Portfolio analysis

 

Over the past three years, the fund maintained a relatively lower exposure to largecap stocks.

 

On average, 82.31 per cent of the portfolio was allocated to largecap stocks, with 10.58 per cent in midcaps and 5.49 per cent in smallcaps. By comparison, the category averages were 85.73 per cent in largecaps, 7.71 per cent in midcaps, and 2.81 per cent in smallcaps — indicating the fund’s relatively higher tilt towards mid and smallcap segments.

 

The portfolio was spread across 20 sectors. Financial services had the largest average allocation at 35.87 per cent, followed by fast-moving consumer goods (8.91 per cent), consumer services (8.19 per cent), information technology (8.14 per cent), and oil, gas and consumable fuels (7.83 per cent).

 

During the review period, the fund took exposure to 116 stocks and held 32 of them consistently. Key contributors to the portfolio included GE Vernova T&D India, Larsen & Toubro, ICICI Bank, and Indian Hotels Company.