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Direct Vs Regular Mutual Fund Investment Plans

Updated on June 27, 2025 , 3565 views

While most of the investors invest in Mutual Funds through regular plans, but the rising popularity of direct plans amongst the new investors has led to an increase in demand. Regular plans have been available to the investors for a much longer time than direct Investment plan. The first direct mutual fund plan got introduced in January 1, 2013.

So, for a fair understanding between regular vs direct Mutual Funds, here’s a comparative article that would guide you in choosing the right plan, as per your investment needs.

Regular Vs Direct : Know the Difference

The regular plans and direct plans are not two different schemes, but in fact, they are variants of the same principal scheme offered by AMCs. Both the plans- direct and regular, prominently differs in some parameters that are:

a. Distribution

An investor can buy a mutual fund with a regular plan through various routes like brokers, RTAs such as CAMS, Karvy, third-party securities Market intermediaries, directly through the AMC as well as through various representative offices of the fund house. While, direct plans can be bought through limited platforms - a very few third-party securities intermediaries, RTAs such as CAMS/Karvy, and authorized local representatives of the fund house. But, since many prefer to consider buying Mutual Fund Online, both direct and regular plans are available via the online mode as well as the physical/paper-based mode.

b. Expense Ratio

One of the main reasons why direct plans look attractive is due to its lower expense ratio. Mutual funds with regular plans have higher expense ratios compared to direct plans. The lower expense ratio results from the fact that direct plans don’t incur any agent commissions or distributor fees that are payable to brokers or distribution agents of the regular mutual fund schemes. Due to which, the potential returns offered by the direct mutual fund schemes are higher than that of mutual funds with regular plans. The lower expense ratio of direct plans is gaining attraction of the investors, especially amongst new investors.

c. NAV

In mutual fund investment, the value of the investment is expressed as the fund’s Asset Under Management (AUM). As direct mutual plans have a lower expense ratio, the saving in commissions is added to the return of the scheme in for of a higher NAV (Net Asset Value) each day.

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Therefore, the NAV of a direct plan is relatively higher as compared to regular plans.

Parameters	Regular Plans	Direct Plans
Convenience	More	Less
NAV	Lower	Higher
Expense ratio	Higher (commission to the intermediary)	Lower
Returns	Less as the AMC fee is more	More as the expense ratio is lesser

Best Direct Mutual Fund Plans

Investors who want to invest in mutual funds with direct plans, here are some of the best performing direct mutual funds as per highest AUM.

Fund	NAV	Net Assets (Cr)	3 MO (%)	6 MO (%)	1 YR (%)	3 YR (%)	5 YR (%)	2024 (%)
Franklin India Opportunities Fund - Direct Growth	₹278.802 ↑ 1.02	₹6,864	11.4	1.3	5.3	36.6	32.6	39.2
Franklin Build India Fund - Direct Growth	₹164.438 ↑ 0.82	₹2,857	11	3.6	1	35.9	34.8	29.1
L&T Infrastructure Fund - Direct Growth	₹54.3447 ↑ 0.31	₹2,391	11.8	0.7	-3.5	32.6	32.2	29.4
Franklin India Smaller Companies Fund - Direct Growth	₹197.923 ↑ 1.05	₹13,545	15.5	-2.3	-1.2	30.9	35.2	24.2
L&T Business Cycles Fund - Direct Growth	₹48.9199 ↑ 0.21	₹1,078	14.7	3.4	9.3	30.6	29.4	37.8
Franklin India Prima Fund - Direct Growth	₹3,145.63 ↑ 14.77	₹12,285	11.4	2.1	8.6	30.3	28.3	32.9
Sundaram SMILE Fund - Direct Growth	₹286.746 ↑ 1.11	₹3,311	15.8	0.8	6.4	27.5	33.1	20.4
DSP BlackRock Micro Cap Fund - Direct Growth	₹220.731 ↑ 1.53	₹16,305	18.2	0.3	10.4	27.3	33.6	26.7
Templeton India Growth Fund - Direct Growth	₹811.412 ↑ 4.34	₹2,225	10	5.1	1.8	26.2	31.3	16.6
Franklin India Taxshield - Direct Growth	₹1,685.07 ↑ 8.57	₹6,719	9.7	3.5	7.5	25.8	27.3	23.4
Note: Returns up to 1 year are on absolute basis & more than 1 year are on CAGR basis. as on 27 Jun 25

Best Regular Mutual Fund Plans

Investors who want to invest in mutual funds with regular plans, here are some of the best performing regular plans to invest in.

Fund	NAV	Net Assets (Cr)	3 MO (%)	6 MO (%)	1 YR (%)	3 YR (%)	5 YR (%)	2024 (%)
Invesco India PSU Equity Fund Growth	₹65.03 ↑ 0.53	₹1,394	12.9	7.5	-3.3	39	29	25.6
SBI PSU Fund Growth	₹32.4064 ↑ 0.25	₹5,259	8.2	5.5	-0.5	38.3	30.5	23.5
Nippon India Power and Infra Fund Growth	₹352.305 ↑ 1.76	₹7,417	11.1	0.6	-4.9	36.9	33.1	26.9
HDFC Infrastructure Fund Growth	₹48.416 ↑ 0.32	₹2,540	11.6	3.7	0.8	36.5	34.9	23
ICICI Prudential Infrastructure Fund Growth	₹199.43 ↑ 1.24	₹7,920	11.6	6.9	5.3	36	37.5	27.4
IDFC Infrastructure Fund Growth	₹51.897 ↑ 0.64	₹1,701	12.7	0.3	-4.5	35.8	34.8	39.3
Motilal Oswal Midcap 30 Fund Growth	₹103.517 ↑ 0.21	₹30,401	11.5	-7.1	10	35.4	36.2	57.1
Franklin India Opportunities Fund Growth	₹252.912 ↑ 0.91	₹6,864	11.1	0.7	3.9	35.1	31.4	37.3
LIC MF Infrastructure Fund Growth	₹50.5775 ↑ 0.15	₹1,005	15.4	-2	2.2	34.6	33.4	47.8
Franklin Build India Fund Growth	₹143.084 ↑ 0.71	₹2,857	10.7	3.1	0	34.5	33.5	27.8
Note: Returns up to 1 year are on absolute basis & more than 1 year are on CAGR basis. as on 27 Jun 25

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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.