Are Active Large-Cap Funds Turning Into A Big Bad Wolf?

Let’s see how they compare with the index over the last five years

John Bogle, the late founder of Vanguard and a pioneer in the investing world, is well-known for his advocacy of index funds and passive investing. (This is a style of investing where an investment is merely replicating an index, say the Nifty or the Sensex).

However, he always felt active funds - mutual funds that select stocks or debt instruments based on a fund manager’s conviction - were a better option in an emerging economy like India because not everyone has equal access to company data and information in the country.

But given what we found when comparing active large-cap funds with the Nifty, Bogle’s exceptionto-the-rule may need a revisit... at least in the investing world of blue-chip companies.

Wolf in sheep’s clothing

Look at any active large-cap fund. In theory, these funds rely on the fund manager’s expertise to select the best large-cap stocks.

But, in reality, most of them look almost like the Nifty 50 index. In number terms, 18 out of 25 active funds have more than 60 per cent overlap with Nifty 50, with some as high as 75 per cent.