Equity mutual funds are generally associated with diversification, as they invest investors’ money across multiple companies to spread market risks. However, not every fund follows the same investment strategy. Some schemes maintain highly concentrated portfolios, putting a significant portion of their assets into a relatively small number of stocks.
Focused funds are specifically designed around this approach. They can invest in a maximum of 30 stocks and must allocate at least 65% of their assets to equity and equity-related instruments. Unlike these schemes, other active equity categories, including large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap funds, do not have a prescribed maximum limit on the number of stocks they can hold.
Although many conventional equity funds diversify across more than 100 or even 200 companies, some schemes maintain concentrated portfolios despite not belonging to the focused-fund category.
According to a post shared by Value Research on X, several active equity funds have portfolios with surprisingly few stocks, even without a focused-fund mandate.
For example, Quant Large Cap Fund holds just 15 stocks. Its top 10 investments account for 79.2% of the entire portfolio. Here is a look at 10 equity mutual funds that held 30 or fewer stocks as of September 30, 2026.
10 Equity Mutual Funds With 30 or Fewer Stocks
The following table highlights the number of stocks held by each scheme and the percentage of its portfolio invested in its top five and top 10 holdings.
| Mutual Fund Scheme | Top 5 Holdings | Top 10 Holdings | Total Stocks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quant Large Cap Fund | 44.5% | 79.2% | 15 |
| Quant Large and Mid Cap Fund | 40.4% | 62.2% | 24 |
| Samco Flexi Cap Fund | 27.8% | 49.7% | 24 |
| Quant Value Fund | 43.6% | 66.5% | 24 |
| Quant Mid Cap Fund | 40.0% | 64.9% | 24 |
| NJ ELSS Tax Saver Fund | 27.3% | 51.5% | 25 |
| Capitalmind Flexi Cap Fund | 22.1% | 39.0% | 30 |
| Motilal Oswal ELSS Tax Saver Fund | 24.6% | 44.7% | 30 |
| Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund | 33.4% | 53.8% | 30 |
| Samco Mid Cap Fund | 20.0% | 36.2% | 30 |
Why Do These Mutual Funds Hold So Few Stocks?
Although these schemes follow different investment categories, their investment mandates do not prescribe a maximum number of stocks.
For instance, Quant Large Cap Fund holds only 15 companies but must invest at least 80% of its assets in large-cap stocks.
Quant Mid Cap Fund, with 24 stocks, is required to maintain a minimum 65% allocation to mid-cap companies. Similarly, Quant Large and Mid Cap Fund holds 24 stocks and must invest at least 35% each in large-cap and mid-cap stocks.
Samco Flexi Cap Fund and Capitalmind Flexi Cap Fund hold 24 and 30 stocks, respectively. Both schemes have the flexibility to invest across different market capitalisations without any prescribed limit on the number of stocks.
These examples show that even funds belonging to conventional equity categories can adopt a concentrated investment approach.
What Does a Concentrated Mutual Fund Portfolio Mean for Investors?
A concentrated portfolio refers to an investment strategy in which the fund manager allocates a larger share of the available money to a limited number of companies instead of spreading investments across many stocks.
This strategy can benefit investors when the selected companies perform well. However, it can also increase the impact of losses if some of the major holdings deliver disappointing results.
For example, when the top 10 stocks account for nearly 80% of a fund’s portfolio, the performance of those companies can have a considerable influence on the scheme’s overall returns.
Therefore, investors should not assume that a mutual fund offers broad diversification simply because it belongs to a large-cap, mid-cap or flexi-cap category.
Before selecting a scheme, investors should examine its total number of holdings, allocation to the top five and top 10 stocks, sector exposure and changes in its portfolio over time.