Over the last 20 years, the Indian equity market has gone through significant phases – from pre-2008 bull runs, the global financial crisis, multiple election cycles, demonetization, GST rollout, COVID-19 pandemic, and the recent tech-led bull market. Despite this, some mutual funds have delivered sub-par returns compared to broader benchmarks. In this article, we highlight the 10 Worst Performing Mutual Funds in the Last 20 Years (as of 4-July-2025) which have delivered between 4.8% to 11.9% CAGR returns.
Investors can also check 10 Mutual Fund Schemes with 20-Year Returns Between 1775% and 2002%.
How We Identified These Worst Performing Mutual Funds?
- Considered only equity mutual funds including largecap, flexicap, thematic, sectoral and international funds.
- ETFs and Index Funds were included only in cases of very low long-term returns.
- Sorted mutual funds based on their 20-year CAGR returns.
- Only regular plans considered as direct plans were not available 20 years ago.
- Used data from ValueResearchOnline and MoneyControl as of 4-July-2025.
- There are over 120 equity mutual funds which have completed 20 years of performance history. From these, we have picked the bottom-10 funds based on 20-year CAGR returns.
- These bottom 10 funds generated between 4.8% to 11.9% CAGR returns over 20 years.
- The majority of other mutual funds have delivered returns in the range of 12% to 20% CAGR.
- Even the top-50 equity mutual funds have delivered over 16% CAGR returns over the last 20 years, highlighting the significant underperformance of the funds listed in this article.
List of 10 Worst Performing Mutual Funds in the Last 20 Years
| Mutual Fund Scheme | 20-Year CAGR |
|---|---|
| LIC MF Children’s Fund | 4.8% |
| Sundaram Global Brand Theme – Equity Active FoF | 8.8% |
| JM Large Cap Fund | 10.4% |
| UTI Children’s Equity Fund | 11.2% |
| LIC MF Nifty 50 Index Plan | 11.2% |
| LIC MF Flexi Cap Fund | 11.3% |
| Taurus Large Cap Fund | 11.3% |
| LIC MF BSE Sensex Index Plan | 11.9% |
| JM Value Fund | 11.9% |
| LIC MF Large Cap Fund | 11.9% |
Fund Analysis and Insights of these Worst Performing Mutual Funds in the Last 20 Years
Lets get into individual mutual fund scheme insights.
#1 – LIC MF Children’s Fund – 20-Year CAGR: 4.8%
- Objective: Targets long-term investment for children’s education and other needs.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 14.6%
- 5 Year: 14.2%
- 10 Year: 8.4%
- 15 Year: 7.7%
- 20 Year: 4.8%
- Our View: Despite decent short-term returns, the long-term 20-year CAGR is below FD returns. High expense ratio and conservative asset mix affected compounding.
#2 – Sundaram Global Brand Theme FoF – 20-Year CAGR: 8.8%
- Objective: Invests in global companies with strong brand equity.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 18.5%
- 5 Year: 14.0%
- 10 Year: 9.8%
- 15 Year: 9.4%
- 20 Year: 8.8%
- Our View: Thematic funds tend to underperform over long durations due to cyclical trends. Strong brands don’t always translate into consistent returns.
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#3 – JM Large Cap Fund – 20-Year CAGR: 10.4%
- Objective: Invests predominantly in largecap Indian companies.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 20.4%
- 5 Year: 18.3%
- 10 Year: 10.7%
- 15 Year: 10.2%
- 20 Year: 10.4%
- Our View: Recent returns have improved, but the 20-year performance still lags peer funds and indices.
#4 – UTI Children’s Equity Fund – 20-Year CAGR: 11.2%
- Objective: Long-term wealth creation for children’s future through equity exposure.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 17.7%
- 5 Year: 19.9%
- 10 Year: 12.3%
- 15 Year: 12.1%
- 20 Year: 11.2%
- Our View: Strong short- and mid-term performance, but modest long-term returns dragged down by conservative early allocations.
#5 – LIC MF Nifty 50 Index Plan – 20-Year CAGR: 11.2%
- Objective: Mirrors the performance of Nifty 50 index.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 17.3%
- 5 Year: 19.1%
- 10 Year: 11.4%
- 15 Year: 10.9%
- 20 Year: 11.2%
- Our View: Index strategy has delivered but issues like high tracking error and fund management inefficiencies affected long-term returns.
Do you know that there are 5 Index Mutual Funds with over 30% CAGR in the last 3 years?
#6 – LIC MF Flexi Cap Fund – 20-Year CAGR: 11.3%
- Objective: Invests across large, mid and small cap stocks.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 17.5%
- 5 Year: 18.2%
- 10 Year: 10.3%
- 15 Year: 10.5%
- 20 Year: 11.3%
- Our View: Frequent portfolio changes and lack of strategy consistency reduced its potential to beat peers in the flexicap space.
#7 – Taurus Large Cap Fund – 20-Year CAGR: 11.3%
- Objective: Invests in largecap stocks for long-term growth.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 20.2%
- 5 Year: 18.8%
- 10 Year: 9.4%
- 15 Year: 9.5%
- 20 Year: 11.3%
- Our View: Although near-term performance is encouraging, weak past performance weighs down long-term CAGR.
#8 – LIC MF BSE Sensex Index Plan – 20-Year CAGR: 11.9%
- Objective: Replicates the BSE Sensex Index performance.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 16.5%
- 5 Year: 18.4%
- 10 Year: 11.4%
- 15 Year: 11.0%
- 20 Year: 11.9%
- Our View: Performance mirrors the index decently, but management inefficiencies and low AUM likely created tracking errors.
Do you know 10 Poor Performing Mutual Funds in last 15 years generated 4.4% to 9.0% CAGR Returns.
#9 – JM Value Fund – 20-Year CAGR: 11.9%
- Objective: Focused on value investing opportunities in Indian equities.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 30.1%
- 5 Year: 28.1%
- 10 Year: 16.3%
- 15 Year: 12.3%
- 20 Year: 11.9%
- Our View: Strong recent cycle performance. But underwhelming performance for many years reduces its long-term average.
#10 – LIC MF Large Cap Fund – 20-Year CAGR: 11.9%
- Objective: Invests in largecap stocks across sectors.
- Returns:
- 3 Year: 17.3%
- 5 Year: 18.7%
- 10 Year: 10.8%
- 15 Year: 11.2%
- 20 Year: 11.9%
- Our View: Moderate performance across timeframes. While consistent, it failed to outperform broader indices or top peers over two decades.
Final Thoughts
Some mutual funds listed here may have improved performance in recent years, but their long-term track record remains poor. Before continuing with such funds, investors should ask:
- Does this fund meet my long-term goals?
- Is its low return a one-time issue or a recurring problem?
- Are there better-performing alternatives in the same category?
Always evaluate performance across 3-year, 5-year, 10-year and 20-year periods. Exit decisions should consider long-term consistency and not just recent uptick in returns.
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