Don't look at short-term performance; hold on to your fund for a full cycle

Investors need to understand that bouts of underperformance by funds are more common than one realises

After five years of outperformance, mid- and small-cap funds have taken a sharp hit this year. Year-to-date (YTD) these funds are down 12.08 per cent on an average. The large-cap universe is doing better: The Nifty 50 index is flat with a YTD return of 0.55 per cent. However, the average YTD return of actively-managed large-cap funds is -4.33 per cent. In other words, most large-cap active funds are currently underperforming their benchmarks. More specifically, of the 54 unique actively-managed funds in the large-cap category, 41, or almost 76 per cent funds are underperforming their benchmark. If amid the general