Nifty 500 Historical Returns
The Nifty 500 covers about 500 companies, roughly 90% of the market value of listed Indian companies: large, mid and small. Figures come from the NAV of a fund that tracks it, so returns include dividends and are after fund costs.
Price history
Month-end values. Hover a year-end point for its value.
About Nifty 500
The Nifty 500 covers about 500 companies, roughly 90% of the market value of listed Indian companies: large, mid and small.
What it means for investors. It is the broadest view of the Indian market here and is the benchmark for many flexi-cap and multi-cap funds.
Returns over time
| Series | 1Y | 3Y | 5Y | 10Y | 15Y | 20Y | Max fall | Data to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nifty 500 | −9.0% | 9.0% | 7.6% | n/a | n/a | n/a | −37% | 23 Oct 2026 |
Annualised (CAGR) for periods of a year or more, ending on each series' latest date. “n/a” means the series does not go back that far. Max fall: the largest fall from a previous peak over the whole history.
AMFI NAV history (daily NAV file; earlier history via mfapi.in, which republishes AMFI NAVs), stored and cleaned by MFIC. Proxy: Motilal Oswal Nifty 500 Index Fund (growth) (total return after fund costs (proxy)). Data 11 Sep 2019 to 23 Oct 2026. Latest level: NSE daily index closing values. Returns use the fund NAV history, which includes dividends.
Mutual funds linked to Nifty 500
MFIC groups that invest in this market, with medians for each group (medians across open-ended schemes, regular plans (etfs for etf categories), growth option, from amfi navs; NAVs as of 23 Oct 2026).
| Fund group | Link | Schemes | 1Y median | 3Y CAGR median | 5Y CAGR median | Ahead of benchmark TRI, 3Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equity ETF: Broad market (500 / total) (ETFs) | Track this market | 11 | −9.3% | +8.7% | +7.4% | – |
| Index Fund: Broad market (500 / total) | Track this market | 21 | −9.6% | +8.3% | +6.8% | – |
| Contra | Main market of active funds | 6 | −9.8% | +11.5% | +10.4% | 2 of 3 |
| Dividend Yield | Main market of active funds | 12 | −8.3% | +9.3% | +9.8% | 5 of 9 |
| ELSS | Main market of active funds | 38 | −9.5% | +8.9% | +8.2% | 17 of 36 |
| Flexi Cap | Main market of active funds | 46 | −7.3% | +9.7% | +7.6% | 22 of 36 |
| Focused | Main market of active funds | 28 | −6.8% | +10.0% | +8.2% | 16 of 27 |
| Multi Cap | Main market of active funds | 34 | −3.7% | +11.2% | +10.3% | 14 of 22 |
| Sectoral/Thematic | Main market of active funds | 259 | −6.3% | +10.8% | +9.4% | 60 of 134 |
| Value | Main market of active funds | 24 | −8.7% | +10.1% | +9.9% | 12 of 20 |
| Large & Mid Cap | Main market of active funds | 36 | −6.9% | +10.7% | +8.9% | 14 of 26 |
Groups follow AMFI categories; theme groups are MFIC's own grouping from scheme names. "Ahead of benchmark TRI" compares each scheme's 3-year return with its own benchmark's total return index as published by AMFI; it is not shown for index funds and ETFs, which aim to match their index. Listed by how closely the group follows this market, not ranked. Open a group for every scheme in it.
Calendar-year returns
| Year | Return |
|---|---|
| 2026 to 23 Oct | −9.6% |
| 2025 | 7.7% |
| 2024 | 15.6% |
| 2023 | 26.5% |
| 2022 | 3.8% |
| 2021 | 30.6% |
| 2020 | 17.2% |
| 2019 part year | 9.7% |
Over 6 complete calendar years since 2020, Nifty 500 rose in 6. Best: 2021 (+30.6%). Worst: 2022 (+3.8%).
Year-end to year-end, from AMFI NAV history (daily NAV file; earlier history via mfapi.in, which republishes AMFI NAVs), stored and cleaned by MFIC.
Falls from peak and recovery
| Peak | Bottom | Fall | Months down | Back to peak | Months to recover | Events in the fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2024 | Feb 2025 | −18.6% | 5 | not yet | — | — |
| Dec 2022 | Mar 2023 | −11.2% | 4 | Jun 2023 | 2 | — |
| Oct 2021 | Jun 2022 | −18.0% | 8 | Nov 2022 | 5 | Russia–Ukraine war begins; RBI off-cycle rate hike |
| Jan 2020 | Mar 2020 | −37.3% | 2 | Nov 2020 | 8 | COVID-19 declared a pandemic |
Each fall of 10% or more from a previous high, measured on daily data. The 4 deepest are shown. “Back to peak” is the first date it regained the previous high.
Rolling returns: the range of outcomes
| Holding period | Periods | Median | Worst | Best | Middle half | Positive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 73 | 11.0% | −5.4% | 75.1% | 3.8% to 33.4% | 86% |
| 3 years | 49 | 17.3% | 9.2% | 27.9% | 15.0% to 19.7% | 100% |
| 5 years | 25 | 18.1% | 8.7% | 25.5% | 13.6% to 20.6% | 100% |
Every holding period starting at a month-end in the history (overlapping). Annualised for periods over a year.
How it has moved with other assets
| Compared with | Correlation | Months |
|---|---|---|
| Nifty 50 | 0.98 | 84 |
| Gold (domestic, ₹) | −0.03 | 84 |
| 10-year G-Sec (bond fund) | 0.22 | 84 |
| USD/INR | −0.56 | 84 |
| BSE Sensex | 0.97 | 84 |
Correlation of monthly returns over the months both series have: +1 moves together, 0 unrelated, −1 opposite. Relationships change over time.
Questions
- What has Nifty 500 returned over the long run?
- Calculated from Motilal Oswal Nifty 500 Index Fund (growth), Nifty 500 returned 7.6% a year over the 5 years to 23 Oct 2026, and 9.0% a year over 3 years. Past returns do not indicate future returns.
- What was the biggest fall in Nifty 500?
- In the data available from Sep 2019, the largest fall from a previous peak was −37.3%, from Jan 2020 to Mar 2020, and it regained the peak in Nov 2020 (8 months after the bottom). There were 4 falls of 10% or more, 1 of them 20% or more.
- How often has Nifty 500 been positive over one year?
- Across 73 one-year periods starting at month-ends, 86% were positive; the range was −5.4% to 75.1%. Over five-year periods (25), 100% were positive, with annualised returns from 8.7% to 25.5%.
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