HDFC Defence Fund
- NAV as on 24 Sep 2026
- ₹29.84-1.00%1 day
- Return since launch
- 39.5%
- 52-week range
- ₹21.77 — ₹31.42
- AUM
- ₹11,478 Cr
HDFC Defence Fund is a Thematic equity fund from HDFC Mutual Fund with ₹11,478 Cr under management, launched in 2023. Over three years it has returned 26.6% a year, against 11.3% for its category. The expense ratio is 1.78% and the SEBI riskometer reading is Very High.
Performance
HDFC Defence Fund NAV and returns
Growth of the fund against its category average over the period you pick.
Over 1Y this fund returned +22.3% against -6.2% for its category.
Performance
Returns
How the fund has done against its category and its benchmark.
| Period | Fund | vs category | Category | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Y | 32.5% | +29.9 pts | 2.5% | -4.4% |
| 2Y | 26.9% | +23.1 pts | 3.8% | -3.8% |
| 3Y | 26.6% | +15.3 pts | 11.3% | -1.6% |
| Period | Fund | vs category | Category | Benchmark |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1M | -1.9% | +2.3 pts | -4.2% | -4.2% |
| 3M | 2.4% | +2.7 pts | -0.3% | -1.5% |
| 6M | 30.2% | +18.6 pts | 11.6% | 8.0% |
| 1Y | 22.3% | +19.8 pts | 2.5% | -6.2% |
| 2Y | 17.1% | +18.8 pts | -1.7% | -7.9% |
| 3Y | 36.8% | +25.5 pts | 11.3% | 4.8% |
Since launch (19 May 2023): 39.5%
Calendar-year returns
Category averageShow as a table
| Period | Fund | vs category | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 9.6% | +6.6 pts | 3.0% |
| 2024 | 39.8% | +20.1 pts | 19.8% |
Returns over one year are annualised. Shorter periods are absolute.
Costs & terms
Costs and terms
What the fund charges each year, and the rules around putting money in and taking it out.
Costs
1.80%
Expense ratio as on 16 Sep 2026
Charged yearly and already deducted from the NAV.
- Base expense
- 1.49%
- Brokerage
- 0.01%
- Transaction charges
- 0.00%
- Statutory levies
- 0.30%
- Exit load
- Exit load of 1%, if redeemed within 1 year.
- Lock-in
- None
Terms
- Min SIP
- ₹3,000
- Min lumpsum
- ₹-1
- Plan
- GROWTH
- Fund type
- OPEN-ENDED
- Benchmark
- Nifty India Defence TRI
- Short-term capital gains
- Returns taxed at 20% if you redeem before 1 year
- Long-term capital gains
- After 1 year, returns above ₹1.25 lakh in a financial year are taxed at 12.5%
Risk
Risk
What the riskometer means for this fund, and how its ratios sit against the category.
Your principal is treated as being at very high risk — typically small cap, sectoral and thematic equity schemes.
| Ratio | Fund | Category avg | Read as |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alpha | 19.48 | 4.47 | Return earned above what the benchmark alone would have given. Higher is better. |
| Beta | 1.61 | 0.95 | How hard the fund moves when the market moves. Under 1 is steadier than the market. |
| Sharpe | 0.98 | 0.67 | Return earned for each unit of total risk taken. Higher is better. |
| Sortino | 1.65 | 1.00 | Return earned for each unit of downside risk. Higher is better. |
| Std. deviation | 31.07 | 16.88 | How widely monthly returns have varied around their own average. Lower is steadier. |
| Average of 4 category peers | |||
Portfolio
HDFC Defence Fund portfolio
Portfolio as of 31 Aug 2026
Asset allocation
- Equity98.1%
- Other1.9%
Market cap split
- Large44.7%
- Mid25.8%
- Small29.6%
- P/E
- 62.47
- P/B
- 10.20
Top holdings
| Holding | Sector | Weight | Value | 3M chg | 6M chg | 1Y chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bharat Electronics Ltd. | Capital Goods | 15.17% | ₹1,741 Cr | +15.48% | +18.58% | +18.57% |
| Bharat Forge Ltd. | Automobile | 13.40% | ₹1,538 Cr | +14.39% | +15.72% | +3.90% |
| Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. | Capital Goods | 12.57% | ₹1,443 Cr | +12.06% | +12.09% | +14.93% |
| Solar Industries India Ltd. | Chemicals | 10.77% | ₹1,236 Cr | +11.97% | +10.26% | +13.77% |
| Astra Microwave Products Ltd. | Communication | 6.55% | ₹752 Cr | +5.93% | +4.92% | +6.34% |
| BEML Ltd. | Capital Goods | 4.89% | ₹562 Cr | +5.06% | +5.92% | +9.17% |
| MTAR Technologies Ltd. | Capital Goods | 4.60% | ₹528 Cr | +6.08% | +3.76% | +2.27% |
| Eicher Motors Ltd. | Automobile | 4.16% | ₹477 Cr | +4.07% | +4.45% | — |
| Bosch Ltd. | Automobile | 4.01% | ₹460 Cr | +2.31% | +1.92% | — |
| Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. | Capital Goods | 3.62% | ₹416 Cr | +2.91% | +2.46% | +1.79% |
| Bharat Dynamics Ltd. | Capital Goods | 3.61% | ₹414 Cr | +4.03% | +4.69% | +4.50% |
| Cyient DLM Ltd. | Capital Goods | 2.94% | ₹337 Cr | +2.38% | +2.13% | +3.57% |
| Premier Explosives Ltd. | Chemicals | 2.69% | ₹309 Cr | +3.31% | +3.05% | +2.81% |
| Centum Electronics Ltd. | Capital Goods | 2.12% | ₹243 Cr | +2.53% | +2.32% | +2.00% |
| Data Patterns (India) Ltd. | Capital Goods | 2.09% | ₹240 Cr | +2.20% | +2.10% | +1.90% |
| Others | Others | 1.89% | ₹216 Cr | -0.28% | -0.16% | -0.58% |
| Tata Motors Ltd. | Automobile | 1.15% | ₹132 Cr | +0.20% | — | — |
| SEDEMAC Mechatronics Ltd. | Capital Goods | 1.07% | ₹123 Cr | +0.88% | — | — |
| ideaForge Technology Ltd. | Capital Goods | 0.84% | ₹96.59 Cr | +0.28% | +0.16% | +0.24% |
| Power Mech Projects Ltd. | Construction | 0.66% | ₹75.62 Cr | +0.78% | +0.78% | +1.40% |
| Cochin Shipyard Ltd. | Capital Goods | 0.39% | ₹45.30 Cr | — | — | — |
| INDO-MIM Ltd. | Capital Goods | 0.25% | ₹28.92 Cr | — | — | — |
| Diffusion Engineers Ltd. | Capital Goods | 0.24% | ₹27.45 Cr | +0.19% | +0.18% | +0.31% |
| JNK India Ltd. | Capital Goods | 0.21% | ₹24.33 Cr | +0.21% | +0.17% | +0.31% |
| Aequs Ltd. | Technology | 0.11% | ₹12.22 Cr | +0.79% | +0.13% | — |
Sectors
Instruments
Recent changes
| Holding | From | To | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bharat Forge Ltd. | 14.82% | 13.40% | -1.42% |
| Bosch Ltd. | 3.06% | 4.01% | +0.95% |
| Astra Microwave Products Ltd. | 7.16% | 6.55% | -0.61% |
| MTAR Technologies Ltd. | 4.01% | 4.60% | +0.59% |
| Bharat Electronics Ltd. | 14.67% | 15.17% | +0.50% |
| Cyient DLM Ltd. | 3.23% | 2.94% | -0.29% |
| Tata Motors Ltd. | 0.86% | 1.15% | +0.29% |
| Mazagon Dock Shipbuilders Ltd. | 3.34% | 3.62% | +0.28% |
| Centum Electronics Ltd. | 2.34% | 2.12% | -0.22% |
| Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. | 12.37% | 12.57% | +0.20% |
| Premier Explosives Ltd. | 2.89% | 2.69% | -0.20% |
| Bharat Dynamics Ltd. | 3.80% | 3.61% | -0.19% |
| Solar Industries India Ltd. | 10.95% | 10.77% | -0.18% |
| ideaForge Technology Ltd. | 0.99% | 0.84% | -0.15% |
| BEML Ltd. | 4.74% | 4.89% | +0.15% |
| Eicher Motors Ltd. | 4.03% | 4.16% | +0.13% |
| Others | -0.15% | -0.04% | +0.11% |
| SEDEMAC Mechatronics Ltd. | 1.00% | 1.07% | +0.07% |
| Power Mech Projects Ltd. | 0.72% | 0.66% | -0.06% |
| Diffusion Engineers Ltd. | 0.20% | 0.24% | +0.04% |
| Data Patterns (India) Ltd. | 2.12% | 2.09% | -0.03% |
| JNK India Ltd. | 0.23% | 0.21% | -0.02% |
| Cochin Shipyard Ltd. | 0.40% | 0.39% | -0.01% |
| INDO-MIM Ltd. | 0.24% | 0.25% | +0.01% |
| Aequs Ltd. | 0.11% | 0.11% | 0.00% |
Compare
Similar funds
The rest of the category, so this fund’s numbers have something to sit against.
| Fund | AUM | Expense | 1Y | 3Y | 5Y |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Category average | ₹2,073 Cr | 2.22% | 12.4% | 11.2% | 14.2% |
 ICICI Prudential Commodities Fund | ₹4,277 Cr | 1.96% | 5.4% | 10.4% | 14.6% |
| ICICI Prudential Exports and Services Fund | ₹1,549 Cr | 2.29% | 0.6% | 6.6% | 12.4% |
 SBI Comma Fund | ₹1,237 Cr | 2.28% | 7.4% | 10.2% | 13.1% |
 Edelweiss Recently Listed IPO Fund | ₹1,230 Cr | 2.36% | 36.1% | 17.6% | 16.7% |
About
About this fund
The scheme’s own words, its benchmark and the people running it.
Investment objective
The scheme seeks to provide long-term capital appreciation by investing predominantly in equity and equity related securities of Defence & allied sector companies.
Fund managers
- Priya RanjanMr. Ranjan is B.E(Computer Science) and PGDBM (Finance).He has over 14 years of experience in equity research.
- Rahul BaijalMr. Baijal has done PGDM(MBA) from IIM Calcutta and is an engineering graduate of Delhi college of EngineeringPrior to joining HDFC Mutual Fund, he has worked with Sundaram Mutual Fund, Bharti AXA Life Insurance, TVF Capital, HSBC Securities, Credit Suisse Securities & Standard Chartered Bank.
Tools
Return calculator
What ₹10,000 a month in this fund would have grown to over each period, based on its past returns.
| Over the past | Total investment | Would’ve become | Growth | Returns |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 months30.23% absolute | ₹60,000 | ₹78,138 | 30.23% | |
| 1 year22.27% annualised | ₹1,20,000 | ₹1,35,508 | 12.92% | |
| 3 years36.81% annualised | ₹3,60,000 | ₹6,61,058 | 83.63% |
Returns for 1 year and longer are annualised (CAGR); 6-month figures are absolute. Past returns are not a forecast.
How this is calculated
Each monthly instalment grows at the fund’s annualised return ÷ 12 per month until the end of the period, the same formula as our SIP calculator.
The amount compounds once a year at the fund’s CAGR for that period, the same formula as our lumpsum calculator.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
The things people ask about this scheme.