Short duration funds in India
26 live funds in the Short Duration category, ordered by 5-year return, highest first; Bank of India Short Term Fund leads. Funds younger than five years follow by name. Returns are for the plan each fund's page leads with, Direct where the fund has one, to each fund's latest NAV, the newest of them on 27 Oct 2026; 3 and 5 year returns are a year, compounded.
- Category median, 1 yearCategory median, 1 year. The middle return among the Short Duration category's funds, each over the same window to its own latest NAV, on their Direct plans.
- +4.34%Middle of 24 funds
- Category median, 3 yearsCategory median, 3 years. The middle return among the Short Duration category's funds, each over the same window to its own latest NAV, on their Direct plans; a year, compounded.
- +7.20%Middle of 23 funds
- Category median, 5 yearsCategory median, 5 years. The middle return among the Short Duration category's funds, each over the same window to its own latest NAV, on their Direct plans; a year, compounded.
- +6.36%Middle of 22 funds
Short Duration funds
Size is the average money the fund managed over its latest quarter. Cost is its yearly expense ratio.Filter them in the screener
Bank of India Short Term FundBank of India Mutual FundNAV₹30.99791Y+4.27%3Y+7.45%5Y+10.72%Size₹266 CrCost0.54%
ICICI Prudential Short Term FundICICI Prudential Mutual FundNAV₹70.47731Y+4.82%3Y+7.43%5Y+6.95%Size₹19,244 CrCost0.45%
Aditya Birla Sun Life Short Term FundAditya Birla Sun Life Mutual FundNAV₹55.12671Y+4.55%3Y+7.39%5Y+6.73%Size₹5,853 CrCost0.36%
Axis Short Term FundAxis Mutual FundNAV₹36.23301Y+4.77%3Y+7.55%5Y+6.68%Size₹7,849 CrCost0.40%
Nippon India Short Term FundNippon India Mutual FundNAV₹61.38611Y+4.36%3Y+7.40%5Y+6.57%Size₹6,880 CrCost0.40%
Sundaram Short Term FundSundaram Mutual FundNAV₹51.25721Y+4.63%3Y+7.26%5Y+6.52%Size₹180 CrCost0.28%
Mahindra Manulife Short Term FundMahindra Manulife Mutual FundNAV₹14.23001Y+4.68%3Y+7.44%5Y+6.49%Size₹82 CrCost0.33%
Baroda BNP Paribas Short Term FundBaroda BNP Paribas Mutual FundNAV₹33.94681Y+4.51%3Y+7.27%5Y+6.45%Size₹334 CrCost0.44%
Bandhan Short Term FundBandhan Mutual FundNAV₹65.91911Y+5.47%3Y+7.61%5Y+6.45%Size₹9,042 CrCost0.39%
HDFC Short Term FundHDFC Mutual FundNAV₹35.26701Y+4.23%3Y+7.19%5Y+6.43%Size₹14,840 CrCost0.39%
UTI Short Term FundUTI Mutual FundNAV₹35.94991Y+4.15%3Y+7.04%5Y+6.40%Size₹1,926 CrCost0.41%
Kotak Short Term FundKotak Mahindra Mutual FundNAV–1Y+4.26%3Y+7.20%5Y+6.32%Size₹14,388 CrCost0.38%
SBI Short Term FundSBI Mutual FundNAV₹36.35521Y+4.03%3Y+7.04%5Y+6.27%Size₹13,655 CrCost0.42%
Mirae Asset Short Term FundMirae Asset Mutual FundNAV₹17.72541Y+3.74%3Y+7.05%5Y+6.26%Size₹526 CrCost0.26%
Tata Short Term FundTata Mutual FundNAV₹56.31831Y+4.13%3Y+6.96%5Y+6.23%Size₹2,937 CrCost0.37%
LIC MF Short Term FundLIC Mutual FundNAV₹16.63071Y+4.45%3Y+7.27%5Y+6.21%Size₹127 CrCost0.36%
TRUSTMF Short Term FundTrust Mutual FundNAV₹1,363.66541Y+4.52%3Y+6.97%5Y+6.17%Size₹68 CrCost0.27%
Groww Short Term FundGroww Mutual FundNAV₹2,565.47201Y+4.88%3Y+7.39%5Y+6.16%Size₹95 CrCost0.32%
DSP Short Term FundDSP Mutual FundNAV₹53.83251Y+4.00%3Y+6.97%5Y+6.15%Size₹3,416 CrCost0.37%
Invesco India Short Term FundInvesco Mutual FundNAV₹4,184.37461Y+3.83%3Y+6.99%5Y+6.08%Size₹658 CrCost0.39%
HSBC Short Term FundHSBC Mutual FundNAV₹29.90461Y+4.16%3Y+7.06%5Y+6.07%Size₹4,042 CrCost0.32%
Canara Robeco Short Term FundCanara Robeco Mutual FundNAV₹29.55261Y+4.43%3Y+6.82%5Y+5.98%Size₹286 CrCost0.36%
Franklin India Short Term FundFranklin Templeton Mutual FundNAV₹10.05521Y–3Y–5Y–Size₹149 CrCost0.34%
JioBlackRock Short Term FundJio BlackRock Mutual FundNAV₹1,038.38191Y–3Y–5Y–Size₹106 CrCost0.35%
JM Short Term FundJM Financial Mutual FundNAV₹13.13241Y+4.32%3Y+6.95%5Y–Size₹81 CrCost0.39%
Union Short Term FundUnion Mutual FundNAV₹11.04711Y+3.81%3Y–5Y–Size₹107 CrCost0.35%
Tax on short duration funds
Gains on units bought on or after 1 Apr 2023 are taxed at the income tax slab rate however long they are held; gains on units bought earlier are taxed at 12.5% when held over 24 months, or over 12 months for a listed fund such as an ETF, and at the slab rate otherwise.
Rules in force from 23 Jul 2024, checked 27 Oct 2026. Surcharge and cess are not included.
About short duration funds in India
Short duration funds in India are debt mutual funds whose portfolio has a Macaulay duration of 1 to 3 years. Macaulay duration is the weighted average time to receive a bond portfolio's cash flows, a measure of how sharply its value reacts to interest-rate changes.
What SEBI requires
SEBI's category rule sets the Macaulay duration of the whole portfolio between 1 year and 3 years, invested in debt and money market instruments. The test applies to the portfolio, not to each bond. Rating limits are not fixed by the category.
SEBI's categorisation circular of 26 Feb 2026 renamed the category Short Term Fund, keeping the 1 to 3 year band, and gave existing schemes until 26 Aug 2026 to align their names and rules.
Duration and interest rates
Duration estimates how much a fund's NAV (net asset value, the price of one unit) falls when yields rise. A portfolio with a duration of 2 years loses roughly 2% of value for each 1 percentage point rise in yields, and gains about the same when yields fall.
Because the band is 1 to 3 years, these funds move more with rates than liquid or ultra short funds, and less than medium term or long term funds.
Neighbouring categories
Ultra short term funds sit at 3 to 6 months, and ultra short to short term funds, formerly low duration, at 6 to 12 months. Medium term funds run 3 to 4 years and may cut duration to 1 year when the fund manager expects adverse conditions. Money market funds are set by maturity, up to 1 year, not duration. Corporate bond funds are set by quality, at least 80% in AA+ and above, so they can have any duration.
Tax on gains
For units bought on or after 1 Apr 2023, gains on a fund that holds more than 65% in debt and money market instruments are taxed at the holder's income tax slab rate, whatever the holding period, with no indexation. Units bought earlier follow the older holding-period rules.
How the page lists funds
The page lists every live fund in the category with its latest NAV, returns over 1, 3 and 5 years, size and cost. Each fund is shown by its lead plan, the Direct plan where one exists. The 3-year and 5-year returns are annualised, meaning compounded per year.
Funds are sorted by 5-year return, highest first. Funds with less than five years of history follow, sorted by name. A dash marks a period the fund is too new to have. Size is the average money the fund managed over its latest quarter, and cost is its yearly expense ratio. Category medians above the table are the middle return of the funds that have that period.