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Nippon India Small Cap Fund Vs HDFC Small Cap Fund: A Comparative Study

Updated on November 5, 2025 , 8320 views

Nippon India Small Cap Fund (Formerly know as Reliance Small Cap Fund) and HDFC Small Cap Fund both of them belong to the small cap category offered by different fund houses. Though both the schemes belong to the same category of Small cap funds under equity category yet, there are differences between both of them. So, let us understand the differences between both the schemes through this article.

Nippon India/Reliance Small Cap Fund

This scheme of Nippon India was launched on April 03, 2008. The scheme’s main objective is to attain long-term Capital appreciation by Investing in equity and equity-related instruments of small-cap companies.

The top 10 holdings of Nippon India Small Cap Fund (as on January 31, 2018) include VIP Industries Limited, RBL Bank Limited, Navin Fluorine International Limited, Zydus Wellness Limited, etc.

Important Information

From October 2019, Reliance Mutual Fund has been renamed as Nippon India Mutual Fund. Nippon Life has acquired majority (75%) stakes in Reliance Nippon Asset Management (RNAM). The company will continue to run its operations without any change in structure and management.

HDFC Small Cap Fund

HDFC Small Cap Fund is a part of HDFC Mutual Fund and was incepted on April 03, 2008. The primary aim of the scheme is to achieve capital growth in the long-term by investing a major portion of its corpus in shares of small cap companies.

As on January 31, 2018, the top 10 holdings of HDFC Small Cap Fund’s Portfolio include Sonata Software Limited, TV Today Network Limited, KEC International Limited, Oriental Carbon & Chemicals Limited, etc.

Detailed Comparison of Nippon India/Reliance Small Cap Vs HDFC Small Cap

Basic Parameters

In this section, the parameters compared are current NAV, Fincash Rating, AUM, their category, expense ratio, exit load and so on. To begin with, the category of these schemes, they both belong to equity category. With respect to the current NAV, both the schemes have different NAV though the difference is not much.

Fincash Ratings for both the Nippon India/Reliance Small Cap Fund and HDFC Small Cap Fund are 4-Star

To summarize, the basic parameters are compared below as follows.

Parameters
BasicsNAV
Net Assets (Cr)
Launch Date
Rating
Category
Sub Cat.
Category Rank
Risk
Expense Ratio
Sharpe Ratio
Information Ratio
Alpha Ratio
Benchmark
Exit Load
Nippon India Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
₹168.648 ↓ -0.40   (-0.23 %)
₹64,821 on 31 Aug 25
16 Sep 10
Equity
Small Cap
6
Moderately High
1.44
-0.65
0.1
-2.55
Not Available
0-1 Years (1%),1 Years and above(NIL)
HDFC Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
₹142.019 ↓ -0.36   (-0.25 %)
₹36,294 on 31 Aug 25
3 Apr 08
Equity
Small Cap
9
Moderately High
1.58
-0.33
0
0
Not Available
0-1 Years (1%),1 Years and above(NIL)

Performance

After looking at the basic parameters let us now look at the performance aspects of both the funds. With respect to performance aspects, there is not much difference in the areas of 1 Month Returns, 3 Month Returns, 6 Month Returns, and 1 Year returns. However, with respect to 3 Year Returns, 5 Year Returns, and Returns Since Inception, there seems a good difference between both of them. In these parameters, the returns of Reliance Small Cap Fund is higher as compared to HDFC Small Cap Fund. Therefore, though HDFC Small Cap Scheme was launched earlier than Reliance’s scheme yet; its performance is better. The table given below shows the performance of both the schemes.

Parameters
Performance1 Month
3 Month
6 Month
1 Year
3 Year
5 Year
Since launch
Nippon India Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
0.1%
1.3%
9.5%
-5.5%
21.9%
31.8%
20.5%
HDFC Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
0.4%
1.9%
16%
-0.3%
21.7%
29.8%
16.3%

Yearly Performance

After looking at the 1Y, 3Y, 5Y Performance let us now look at the absolute yearly performance aspects of both the funds in last 5 years. over here Nippon India Small Cap Fund is generating marginally better returns every year in comparison to HDFC Small cap fund.

Parameters
Yearly Performance2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
Nippon India Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
26.1%
48.9%
6.5%
74.3%
29.2%
HDFC Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
20.4%
44.8%
4.6%
64.9%
20.2%

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Other Details

In this section of other details, some of the parameters compared are Minimum SIP and lumpsum investment. Though the lumpsum investment in case of both the schemes is same, that is, INR 5,000, nevertheless, in case of SIP, the minimum amount of Reliance is lower as compared to HDFC.

Nippon India/Reliance Small Cap Fund is managed by Mr. Samir Rachh

HDFC Small Cap Fund is managed by Mr. Chirag Setalvad

Parameters
Other DetailsMin SIP Investment
Min Investment
Fund Manager
Nippon India Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
₹100
₹5,000
Samir Rachh - 8.75 Yr.
HDFC Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
₹300
₹5,000
Chirag Setalvad - 11.27 Yr.

Growth of 10k Investments over the years

Growth of 10,000 investment over the years.
Nippon India Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
DateValue
31 Oct 20₹10,000
31 Oct 21₹19,480
31 Oct 22₹22,272
31 Oct 23₹29,220
31 Oct 24₹42,673
31 Oct 25₹41,342
Growth of 10,000 investment over the years.
HDFC Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
DateValue
31 Oct 20₹10,000
31 Oct 21₹19,409
31 Oct 22₹20,456
31 Oct 23₹27,227
31 Oct 24₹37,047
31 Oct 25₹38,152

Detailed portfolio Comparison

Asset Allocation
Nippon India Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
Asset ClassValue
Cash4.9%
Equity95.1%
Equity Sector Allocation
SectorValue
Industrials20.82%
Consumer Cyclical15.14%
Financial Services14.81%
Basic Materials12.07%
Consumer Defensive9.3%
Health Care8.98%
Technology7.7%
Utility2.67%
Energy1.51%
Communication Services1.42%
Real Estate0.53%
Top Securities Holdings / Portfolio
NameHoldingValueQuantity
Multi Commodity Exchange of India Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 28 Feb 21 | MCX
2%₹1,443 Cr1,851,010
HDFC Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 30 Apr 22 | HDFCBANK
2%₹1,265 Cr13,300,000
Kirloskar Brothers Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 12 | KIRLOSBROS
1%₹863 Cr4,472,130
Karur Vysya Bank Ltd (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 28 Feb 17 | 590003
1%₹804 Cr38,140,874
State Bank of India (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 19 | SBIN
1%₹794 Cr9,100,000
NLC India Ltd (Utilities)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 22 | NLCINDIA
1%₹776 Cr27,190,940
Tube Investments of India Ltd Ordinary Shares (Industrials)
Equity, Since 30 Apr 18 | TIINDIA
1%₹774 Cr2,499,222
Zydus Wellness Ltd (Consumer Defensive)
Equity, Since 31 Aug 16 | ZYDUSWELL
1%₹770 Cr16,848,030
Paradeep Phosphates Ltd (Basic Materials)
Equity, Since 31 May 22 | 543530
1%₹747 Cr38,089,109
Apar Industries Ltd (Industrials)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 17 | APARINDS
1%₹736 Cr899,271
Asset Allocation
HDFC Small Cap Fund
Growth
Fund Details
Asset ClassValue
Cash10.19%
Equity89.81%
Equity Sector Allocation
SectorValue
Industrials22.54%
Consumer Cyclical19.02%
Technology12.85%
Health Care12.29%
Financial Services11.35%
Basic Materials7.07%
Consumer Defensive2.9%
Communication Services1.79%
Top Securities Holdings / Portfolio
NameHoldingValueQuantity
Firstsource Solutions Ltd (Technology)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 18 | FSL
5%₹1,806 Cr54,953,617
↑ 341,783
Aster DM Healthcare Ltd Ordinary Shares (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 30 Jun 19 | 540975
4%₹1,513 Cr24,129,059
↑ 1,925
eClerx Services Ltd (Technology)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 18 | ECLERX
4%₹1,479 Cr3,688,859
↓ -80,224
Bank of Baroda (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Mar 19 | 532134
3%₹1,211 Cr46,817,927
↓ -10,865
Gabriel India Ltd (Consumer Cyclical)
Equity, Since 31 Oct 18 | GABRIEL
3%₹1,167 Cr9,890,488
↓ -1,049,702
Eris Lifesciences Ltd Registered Shs (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 31 Jul 23 | 540596
3%₹1,005 Cr6,326,172
↑ 248,248
Fortis Healthcare Ltd (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 31 Jul 23 | 532843
3%₹977 Cr10,068,979
↓ -4,153
Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences Ltd (Healthcare)
Equity, Since 31 Jul 23 | 543308
2%₹779 Cr
Sudarshan Chemical Industries Ltd (Basic Materials)
Equity, Since 29 Feb 24 | 506655
2%₹772 Cr5,789,635
↑ 22,455
Indian Bank (Financial Services)
Equity, Since 31 Jul 16 | 532814
2%₹727 Cr9,682,969
↓ -5,159

Thus, from the above comparisons, we can find that both the schemes are different in certain parameters while same in certain parameters. However, it is always advised to people that they understand the modalities of a scheme completely and check whether it matches their investment objectives before investing. In addition, they can even consult a financial advisor to ensure that the selected fund is in-line with their objectives and they attain it on time.

Disclaimer:
All efforts have been made to ensure the information provided here is accurate. However, no guarantees are made regarding correctness of data. Please verify with scheme information document before making any investment.
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