NFO Pick – (Samco Large & Mid Cap Fund)

16 Jun 2025 , 10:03 AM

AN ACTIVE LARGE & MIDCAP FUND WITH MOMENTUM FOCUS

The universe of stocks for the fund will be the 250 large & mid-cap stocks. This includes the Nifty 100 and the Nifty Midcap 150 stocks combined. While the momentum filter will add to the eventual returns of the fund, the large & mid-cap theme alone offers a better risk-return trade-off. Firstly,  the large & midcap fund has typically seen lower drawdowns during corrections compared to midcaps and small caps. Secondly, the large & midcap combination has also shown a much better resilience to macro risks. Thirdly, large & midcap also offers better sectoral diversification compared to large caps, by including unique sectors like textiles, construction materials, consumer durables etc. Lastly, the large & mid cap portfolio has outperformed the Nifty 500 index across all time frames; from 1 year to 10 years.

FACTORING MOMENTUM FILTER INTO LARGE & MIDCAPS

The fund will spice up the large & midcap stock selection with the use of momentum at multiple levels.

• Cross-sectional momentum: focussing on consistent price strength and the ability to outperform the index and the sector peer group.
• Absolute momentum: focussing on absolute positive returns, with the use of derivatives to benefit from negative market movements.
• Revenue momentum: focussing on companies with consistent and qualitative revenue growth on a sustained basis over a period of time.
• Earnings momentum: focussing more on the corollary to revenue, which entails rapid growth in profits in tandem with revenue growth.

Now for the proof of the pudding; how have large & midcap funds performed in the market across various time frames?

HOW LARGE & MID-CAP FUNDS PERFORMED

There are a total of 31 active Large & Midcap Funds in India, managing a combined corpus of ₹2,93,127 Crore. The table presents the top 10 on 5-year returns of the Direct plan. Only funds with 3-year track record have been shown.

Scheme Name	Return (%) 1-Year	Return (%) 3-Years	Return (%) 5-Years	Daily AUM (₹ in Crore)
Motilal Oswal Large and Midcap Fund	17.87	33.97	32.26	10,840.40
ICICI Prudential Large & Mid Cap Fund	10.82	25.68	30.58	22,209.53
Bandhan Large & Mid Cap Fund	10.28	29.38	30.44	9,382.34
HDFC Large and Midcap Fund	6.17	25.07	29.99	26,002.54
UTI Large & Midcap Fund	10.26	25.98	29.25	4,673.24
Nippon India Vision Fund	7.98	24.44	27.84	5,994.14
Invesco India Large & Midcap Fund	17.22	29.33	27.72	7,510.64
Mahindra Manulife Large & Midcap	2.82	21.27	27.72	2,675.75
Quant Large and Midcap Fund	-6.13	23.68	27.36	3,844.10
Edelweiss Large and Midcap Fund	9.48	23.58	27.19	4,000.99
Data Source: AMFI

 

If you take a 1-year  perspective, funds have delivered average returns of 7.73%. However, if you consider a 3-year perspective, then these funds have delivered average returns of 23.42% CAGR. On a 5-year basis, average returns are 26.82%. What is more interesting is that, even the variations are not too high, so the risk of selection is lower in this case. These large & mid-cap funds have successfully combined alpha hunt with stability.

GLANCE AT THE SAMCO LARGE & MID CAP FUND NFO

Here are key details of the Samco Large & Mid Cap Fund NFO.

• The NFO opened on June 05, 2025 and closes on June 19, 2025. The objective of the fund is to beat the Nifty Large Midcap 250 TRI, through an active selection process that applies multiple momentum principles to the Large & Midcap stocks.
• On the risk-o-meter, Samco Large & Mid Cap Fund is classified as “Very High Risk,” due to its predominant exposure to equity instruments and also due to its rather high potential exposure to the mid-cap stocks.
• The Samco Large & Mid Cap Fund will be best suited to investors willing to take a higher degree of risk for alpha, without compromising on stability of the portfolio. An ideal holding period would be 5 to 7 years at the bare minimum to get full benefits.
• Samco Large & Mid Cap Fund offers Regular and Direct plans. It also offers Growth option and IDCW option to investors. Umeshkumar Mehta, Nirali Bhansali, and Dhawal Dhanani will be the designated fund managers.
• Minimum application amount in NFO is ₹5,000 and multiples of ₹1 thereof. Subsequent additional investments will be of minimum ₹500. That will be the minimum investment applicable for SIPs also.
• There is no exit load for redeeming up to 10% of units. Beyond that, an exit load of 1% on redemption value will be leviable if the holding period is less than 1 year from the date of allotment. There is not exit load after 1 year.

Samco Large & Mid Cap Fund is an equity fund for tax purposes. Short term gains (up to 1 year) will be taxed at 20.8%, including surcharge. Long term capital gains (above 1 year) will be 12.5%, after the base exemption of ₹1.25 lakhs per financial year.