Learn Mutual Funds

Direct and Regular are different plans of the same scheme. A Regular plan includes distributor compensation in its expenses; compare the exact plan you would hold.

Growth retains gains in the scheme's NAV. IDCW may distribute income subject to the scheme's decision and available surplus; a distribution is not an extra return because NAV adjusts accordingly.

Volatility

How widely historical returns varied; it does not describe every form of risk.

Maximum drawdown

The largest observed fall from a prior peak to a later trough.

Sharpe / Sortino

Historical return relative to total / downside variation. Higher is not automatically better across unlike categories.

Historical VaR

A percentile of observed one-day losses, not a worst-case-loss limit.

Beta / tracking error

Benchmark-relative measures. They remain unavailable when no fair stored benchmark exists.

1. Match the category and portfolio role to your time horizon.
2. Read the scheme information document and current SEBI Riskometer.
3. Compare the exact Direct/Regular and Growth/IDCW option.
4. Review consistency across more than one period, not only the latest winner.
5. Review drawdown and downside metrics alongside returns.
6. Check expense ratio, exit load, portfolio, concentration, and manager/process from official scheme disclosures. These are not shown here until normalized source-backed ingestion exists.

An NFO's initial unit price does not make it cheaper than an established fund. Focus on mandate, benchmark, portfolio construction, costs, risks, and whether the category fills a genuine portfolio need.