Ten pharma and healthcare mutual funds delivered returns exceeding 20% over the past year, with HDFC Pharma And Healthcare Fund leading at 28.66%, according to Value Research data. Kotak Healthcare Fund followed closely at 28.47%, while PGIM India Healthcare Fund delivered 27.17% returns. The strong performance across the sector demonstrates robust investor confidence in pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, with the top performers crossing the 25% threshold and showing substantial gaps between best and worst-performing funds.
The broader pharma category is classified as very high risk by Value Research, with the fund research firm noting that pharma funds are generally suited to investors seeking small, supporting allocations to the sector who can tolerate sharper swings associated with concentrated portfolios. Quant Healthcare Fund and Bajaj Finserv Healthcare Fund delivered 25.64% and 25.28% respectively, while WhiteOak Capital Pharma and Healthcare Fund crossed 24%. The remaining funds in the top 10 included SBI Healthcare Opportunities Fund at 23.03%, Mirae Asset Healthcare Fund at 22.39%, and Aditya Birla Sun Life Pharma & Healthcare Fund at 20.18%.
The largest funds by assets produced mixed results over the same period, with Nippon India Pharma Fund delivering 14.06% returns despite having ₹9,279 crore in net assets. ICICI Prudential Healthcare Fund with ₹6,803 crore in assets returned 10.94%. SBI Healthcare Opportunities Fund was the notable exception among large schemes, delivering 23.03% on ₹5,400 crore in net assets. This performance gap highlights that the largest funds by assets were not necessarily the top performers, with Nippon India Pharma Fund showing a significant 14 percentage points difference compared to the leading schemes.
The one-year performance highlights the strong showing from the pharma and healthcare segment, though sectoral concentration remains important for investors. The data shows that the 20% threshold was not crossed by the remaining seven funds in the list, with LIC MF Healthcare Fund coming closest at 19.70%. For investors, this performance demonstrates the sector's resilience and growth potential, while emphasizing the importance of understanding concentration risk in pharmaceutical-focused investment strategies.
