Nippon India Mutual Fund was set up in June 1995 as Reliance Mutual Fund, originally a joint venture between Reliance Capital and Japan's Nippon Life Insurance. For years it operated under the Reliance umbrella — a recognizable name, but one that carried the baggage of corporate group risk. That changed in 2019. Nippon Life bought out Reliance's stake, and the fund house was renamed Nippon India Mutual Fund in October 2019.
The rebrand wasn't cosmetic. Nippon Life brought in the kind of long-horizon, conservative institutional mindset that Japan is known for — and it shows in how the fund house operates today.
Scale and Standing
As of late 2025, Nippon India's AUM stood at approximately ₹7.09 lakh crore. That puts it firmly among India's top four AMCs by size. What's more interesting than the number itself is the growth rate behind it — among the top 10 fund houses, Nippon India registered the highest AUM growth at 29% in FY2025, with average AUM rising from ₹4.3 trillion in March 2024 to ₹5.6 trillion by March 2025. Growing at that pace, at that scale, is not easy.
In 2017, when it was still known as Reliance Mutual Fund, it became the first mutual fund company in India to be listed on a stock exchange. That's still a distinction no other AMC holds.
How They Invest
The fund house blends quantitative screens with bottom-up fundamental research on the equity side. In practice, that means fund distributor aren't just riding macro themes — they're digging into individual companies before placing bets.
The person most associated with equity investing at Nippon India is Sailesh Raj Bhan, President and CIO — Equity Investments, who has over 27 years of experience in Indian equity markets, with more than 19 of those at Nippon Life India Asset distribution. He has managed flagship schemes like the Large Cap Fund and Multi Cap Fund for over 15 years. That kind of tenure at a single fund house is rare, and it matters — continuity in fund distribution is one thing investors don't always pay enough attention to.
Top Schemes Worth Knowing
The fund most people associate with Nippon India is the Small Cap Fund. Managed by Samir Rachh, it has an overall AUM of approximately ₹72,673 crore and has delivered annualised returns of around 22% over five years as of May 2026. Importantly, Nippon India itself capped fresh subscriptions into this fund from July 2023 — a rare move that signals the fund house is willing to protect existing investors over gathering more assets.
On the passive side, Nippon India stands apart. It is the only AMC in India with more than 19 years of experience in managing ETFs. The Nippon India ETF Nifty BeES, launched in 2002, was India's first ETF and remains the largest ETF by AUM today, with an expense ratio of 0.04% — among the cheapest investment vehicles in the country.
Bottom Line
Nippon India is not a flashy fund house. It doesn't make loud calls or chase every new theme. What it does have is depth — a long institutional history, stable fund distribution, a dominant ETF franchise, and one of the most consistently performing small cap funds in the country. For a distributor, that's a fund house you can explain to clients without needing too many caveats.
Disclaimer: Past performance is not indicative of future returns. All figures sourced from AMFI, Nippon India AMC official website, CRISIL, and Business Standard. Please verify current NAV and AUM data before client communication.
Best regards,
Written By Samyak Naik
