Top 5 value funds in September by returns over 5 years, AUM and rank; how they've performed in 2026

Value funds, which aim to generate returns by investing in stocks trading below their intrinsic worth, have rewarded patience over the past five years. ACE MF data as on September 11, 2026 place HSBC Value Fund, JM Value Fund, Aditya Birla Sun Life Value Fund, ICICI Prudential Value Fund and HDFC Value Fund at the top of the value category on five-year returns, each comfortably ahead of its benchmark.

HSBC Value Fund leads with a five-year annualised return of 16.08%, ranked first among 18 schemes, against the 10.12%recorded by its benchmark NIFTY 500 TRI. JM Value Fund follows HSBC scheme at 15.21%, well ahead of its benchmark, the BSE 500 TRI, at 7.39%. Aditya Birla Value Fund (14.85%), ICICI Prudential Value Fund (14.50%) and HDFC Value Fund (14.15%) are the other three schemes in the top five. All these schemes are leading their respective benchmarks by four to nearly eight points.

Returns and Category Rank (Direct Plans, as on September 11, 2026)

HSBC Value Fund managed AUM of ₹15,372.81 crore, HDFC ₹8,265.95 crore and Aditya Birla ₹6,924.62 crore. Between March 2022 and March 2026, ICICI’s net assets rose from ₹23,149.18 crore to ₹55,851.76 crore, while JM Value Fund’s AUM grew from ₹157.11 crore to ₹721.39 crore.

Assets Under Management (₹ crore)

How have they fared in 2026?

In the June quarter the smallest scheme performed the most. JM Value Cap returned 18.25%, ahead of Aditya Birla (16.84%), HDFC (14.23%), HSBC (11.57%) and ICICI (5.24%). The preceding financial year was difficult for these schemes. HSBC managed 5.01%, HDFC 2.14%, ICICI 1.50%, Aditya Birla 0.29% and JM -7.22, against the NIFTY 500’s 3.60% fall. Over the past year, Aditya Birla leads with 14.57% while ICICI trails at -5.04%t, a gap of nearly 20 percentage points within one category.

Value of a ₹5,000 monthly SIP (direct plans, ₹)

For a systematic investor, the differences in returns can compound over long-term . A monthly SIP of ₹5,000 over five years may have grown to ₹4,43,417 in Aditya Birla’s fund, ₹4,39,038 in HSBC’s, ₹4,28,503 in HDFC’s and ₹ 4,21,921 in JM’s, but only ₹3,93,170 in ICICI’s.

Volatility measures of these schemes is also not uniform. Standard deviation, computed by ACE MF over one year of daily returns, measures how widely a fund’s returns swing around their average. Beta measures sensitivity to the market: above 1 means the fund moves more than the index, below 1 means less. The Sharpe ratio captures the excess return earned per unit of risk, and a negative reading means the risk went unrewarded.

JM Value Fund is the most volatile of the five, with a standard deviation of 1.03 and a beta of 1.08; ICICI is the most defensive at 0.71 and 0.77, yet ICICI Pru Value Fund is the only one with a negative Sharpe ratio (-0.04). Aditya Birla SL Value Fund has the the best risk-adjusted showing with a Sharpe of 0.05.

Volatility measures

Data indicate that all these five schemes have stayed faithful to value, even as their official objectives vary from each other. ICICI Prudential Value Fund’s stated objective is “to generate returns through a combination of dividend income and capital appreciation by investing primarily in a well-diversified portfolio of value stocks”, HSBC’s scheme document speaks of a “higher focus on undervalued securities”. HDFC Value Fund speaks of “primarily investing in undervalued stocks”. However, the price each pays varies widely: ICICI’ Pru Value Fund's P/E ratio is 24.36 times earnings and 3.93 times book value, while HDFC Value Fund is the richest at 37.87 times P/E and 6.44 times book.

Portfolio Profile (August 2026)

Banking is the common thread among these five funds. Bank stocks are 25.69% of ICICI value fund’s portfolio, 24.47% of HSBC’s and 22.01% of HDFC’s, against 14.48% for Aditya Birla and 11.92% for JM. ICICI Bank figures in the top-10 holdings of all five funds. HSBC runs the most diversified book with 84 stocks across 24 sectors; ICICI the most compact with 60 in 21.