Last updated 1 July 2026 · vs April 2026 · How the score is calculated
Conservative hybrid funds hold 75-90% in debt and 10-25% in equity, by SEBI mandate. The category is for investors who want most of their portfolio in debt (for capital preservation and regular income) with a small equity kicker for inflation-beating growth. The expected return is 1-2 percentage points above a pure debt fund, with standard deviation also slightly higher. In a fixed-income crisis (like 2018, when 10-year yields rose 100 basis points in 6 months), conservative hybrid funds can give back 3-5% from the equity sleeve alone, which is the trade-off you accept for the higher long-run return. How to read this table. Compare the 5-year return to 80% gilt + 20% Nifty 50. The fund should beat that benchmark by enough to make the active management worthwhile, after fees and taxes.
Each Conservative Hybrid fund in the table is scored on a blend of five factors: 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year returns, the 3-year Sharpe ratio, and the 3-year maximum drawdown. The 5-year return carries the heaviest weight; the 1-year return carries the lightest, because a single year is mostly noise. Funds with less than three years of history are kept out of the 3Y / 5Y windows but are still listed if they have a 1-year track record.
The underlying NAV data is sourced nightly from the AMFI daily NAV file and the AMC factsheets. The score is re-run every month after the latest upload. Two funds with a score within 5 points of each other are essentially interchangeable for retail purposes; pick from the top 3-5 names in the list, not just the top 1. The full formula, weights, and edge cases are in the rankings methodology post.
| Rank | Scheme | Score |
|---|---|---|
1↑2 | HSBC Conservative Hybrid Fund - Regular Growth HSBC Mutual Fund · Regular | 69.6 |
2↑2 | Parag Parikh Conservative Hybrid Fund - Regular Plan - Growth PPFAS Mutual Fund · Regular | 69.3 |
3↓1 | ICICI Prudential Regular Savings Fund - Plan - Growth ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund · Regular | 59.4 |
4↓3 | Nippon India Conservative Hybrid Fund-Growth Plan Nippon India Mutual Fund · Regular | 58.1 |
5— | Kotak Debt Hybrid - Growth Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund · Regular | 54.1 |
Rankings based on data up to 1 July 2026. Direct plans and regular plans are scored separately; this table shows the regular plan of each fund. For educational purposes only, not investment advice. Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Read the full disclaimer.
The equity sleeve (10% vs 25%) and the debt quality (gilts only vs AA+ corporate bond) are the two levers. Equity at 25% is closer to balanced hybrid; equity at 10% is closer to a pure debt fund with a small kicker.
FinvestR Research Desk
Research team, FinvestR
The FinvestR research desk produces the monthly fund rankings and the underlying scoring engine. The team includes AMFI-registered distributors (ARN-142502) and NISM-Series-V-A certified research analysts. Plain English, no product pitches, full methodology on every page.
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Last updated 1 July 2026. The full ranking methodology and the data sources are published in the July 2026 rankings post. Past performance does not indicate future results.
Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Read all scheme-related documents carefully before investing. FinvestR Capital is registered with AMFI as a Mutual Fund Distributor (ARN-142502). The rankings on this page are research output and not personalised investment advice. Consult a SEBI- registered investment advisor for advice tailored to your situation.