Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund: Best Pick for 2026

You do not need ten different equity funds in 2026, but you do need the right flexi-cap fund for your unstoppable growth. Most investors know both Parag Parikh and HDFC Flexi Cap Fund are good, but the problem is not performance. It is deciding which fund is the best pick for your investments in 2026: Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund?

One fund gives you global diversification with relatively smoother returns suitable for long-term investors. At the same time, the other is a bold, India‑focused flexi cap that can run harder in strong markets, ideal for higher short-term gains. So, which one will you add to your portfolio?

Let us decide with the straight, data-backed face-off between Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund. Walk through their performance, risk, stock quality, portfolio style and many more factors in this post, so by the end, you will know exactly which flexi cap fund fits your goals for 2026.

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund: Overview 

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund is a flexi cap mutual fund that offers global diversification and lower volatility. To maintain the diversified portfolio, the fund allocated a portion of its assets (around 10%) to global equities. It is better suited for investors with a long-term vision.

On the other hand, the HDFC Flexi Cap Fund is an India-focused flexi cap mutual fund. The allocations of this fund are shifted across market caps dynamically for better growth. This fund is more aggressive than the Parag Parikh fund and is suitable for higher short-term growth.

Here are the main differences between Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund:

Factors	Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund	HDFC Flexi Cap Fund
Launch Date	May 24, 2013	January 1, 1995
Fund House	PPFAS Mutual Fund	HDFC Mutual Fund
AUM	Rs 1,25,799 Crore	Rs 91,041 Crore
Expense Ratio	0.63%	0.67%
Benchmark	Nifty 500 TRI	Nifty 500 TRI
NAV	Rs 95	Rs 2,278
Exit Load	2% if redeemed within 365 days and 1% if redeemed after 365 days.	1% if redeemed within 1 year
Min SIP Amount	Rs 1000	Rs 100
Risk Level	Very High	Very High
Fund Manager	Rajeev Thakkar	Roshi Jain
Turn Over	Low (10-13%)	Moderate at ~20%

Now, let us compare the funds based on their SIP and rolling returns. 

Performance Comparison: Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund

Based on the performance overview, both mutual funds have given a good performance for short-term, as well as for long-term, outperforming their benchmarks. Let us look at the details based on:

Rolling Returns

For rolling returns, Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund, which recorded 19.38% 3-year returns and 19.36% 5-year returns, has given a better performance than HDFC Flexi Cap Fund, which generated 16.8% 3-year returns and 16.2% 5-year returns. But both of them have outperformed the benchmark.

 

The above graph shows the ability of both flexi-cap funds to give consistent performance.

SIP Returns

For Best SIP Returns, HDFC Flexi Cap Fund defeated Parag Parikh for both 3 and 5 year durations. The HDFC fund displayed 20.51% 3-year and 21.73% 5-year returns, while the Parag Parikh fund gave 17.94% for 3 years and 18.07% for 5 years. But both of them still beat the benchmark as well as the category average.

 

 

According to the graph, both funds have given better returns for the 5-year duration than for 3 years, indicating SIP works better with long-term investments.

Pro Tip: Use a SIP Calculator and estimate the future returns of your SIP investment easily.

Now, let us explore the investment strategies of the mutual funds.

Investment Style of Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund follows a value-oriented strategy with a long-term investment horizon and it aims for capital generation by investing in high-quality businesses at reasonable costs. While HDFC Flexi Cap Fund adopts a buy-and-hold approach, it also aims for long-term growth through investments in high-quality companies with high growth potential.

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund targets companies with strong fundamentals, competitive advantage and those that are priced lower than their actual value. It maintains a large cash reserve (15-20%) to take advantage of opportunities when market changes.

In contrast, the HDFC Flexi Cap Fund follows a GARP strategy that stands for growth at a reasonable price with elements of value investing and targeting companies with strong growth potential. The fund actively adjusts sector and market cap allocations to grow with market cycles while maintaining focus on large caps for stability.

For the research process, the HDFC Flexi Cap Fund uses a bottom-up approach while incorporating both quantitative and qualitative factors and the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund uses a top-down approach to look for global and local trends and a bottom-up approach for analysing companies. 

Must Read: Top 10 Flexi Cap Mutual Funds: High-Return Picks in India 2025

Let us understand the portfolio composition of both flexi-cap funds in the next part.

Portfolio Composition of Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund

The Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund holds 85-90 stocks in its portfolio, reflecting high-conviction bets and the HDFC Flexi Cap Fund holds 48-50 stocks, reducing single-stock risk. Here are the details:

Asset Allocation

Parag Parikh Fund adjusts its portfolio allocation dynamically while using a buy-and-hold approach. It mainly places its bet in equity, followed by debt, cash and real estate. While HDFC Fund adjusts its allocations based on the market. It also has its main placement in equity, after that, cash, real estate and debt.

Parag Parikh places a good amount of assets in equity and debt, but HDFC places more in equity.

Market Cap Allocation

For their market capitalisation, Parag Parikh focuses on large caps (94.42%) and invests a small amount in mid (4.19%) and small (1.39%) caps. The HDFC Fund also follows the same strategy but with slightly different allocations, that is, 88.7% in large, 8.23% in mid and 3.06% in small caps.

Market Cap	Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund	HDFC Flexi Cap Fund
Large	94.42%	88.71%
Mid	4.19%	8.23%
Small	1.39%	3.06%

This shows that both mutual funds focus more on the large-cap companies and their growth potential.

Sector Allocation

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund has its main allocations in financials (26.91), technology (15.91), consumer discretionary (10.15), energy & utilities (5.99) and Materials (5.48). The primary allocations of the HDFC Flexi Cap Fund are financials (39.51), consumer discretionary (15.92), technology (8.8), healthcare (8.26) and materials (5.93).

Sector	Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund	Sector	HDFC Flexi Cap Fund
Financial	26.91	Financial	39.51
Technology	15.91	Consumer Discretionary	15.92
Consumer Discretionary	10.15	Technology	8.8
Energy & Utilities	5.99	Healthcare	8.26
Materials	5.48	Materials	5.93

Both funds have almost identical sector preferences, except Parag Parikh allocates in healthcare, while HDFC allocates in energy & utilities.

In the next heading, let us discover the top holdings of both funds.

Top Holdings of Parag Parikh Flexi Cap and HDFC Flexi Cap Fund

Here is the list of the top 10 holdings of Parag Parikh Flexi Cap and HDFC Flexi Cap Fund, along with their values:

Holdings	Value	Holdings	Value
HDFC Bank Ltd.	8.02%	ICICI Bank Ltd.	9.01%
Power Grid Corporation Of India Ltd.	6.00%	HDFC Bank Ltd.	8.57%
Bajaj Holdings & Investment Ltd.	5.20%	Axis Bank Ltd.	7.31%
Coal India Ltd.	5.01%	State Bank of India	4.53%
ITC Ltd.	4.64%	SBI Life Insurance Company Ltd.	4.30%
ICICI Bank Ltd.	4.63%	Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.	4.20%
Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd.	4.04%	Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.	3.56%
Alphabet Inc Class A	3.75%	Cipla Ltd.	3.46%
Maruti Suzuki India Ltd.	3.47%	HCL Technologies Ltd.	3.05%
Bharti Airtel Ltd.	3.46%	Bharti Airtel Ltd.	2.48%

Let us know the individuals who drive these flexi-cap funds towards their growth phase.

Fund Managers of Parag Parikh and HDFC Flexi Cap Fund

Here are the profiles of the fund managers and their employed investment strategies:

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund

It is led by Rajeev Thakkar, who is a CIO and the fund manager of the fund since its inception (2013). He is a value investing expert with over 25 years of experience. He manages the fund with his team, including Rukun Tarachandani (handles domestic equity, since 2021) and Raj Mehta (handles the debt or fixed-income portion), co-managers of the fund.

They focus on understanding emotional biases rather than following market trends. Their strategy has led to a return of over 19% per year on average over the last ten years. This teamwork results in a stable performance, shown by PPFCF's lower risk, with an 8.4% standard deviation compared to HDFC's 10.6%.

HDFC Flexi Cap Fund

It is managed by Roshi Jain, who has been a senior fund manager since July 2022, working in equities and Dhruv Muchhal, who is an equity analyst and fund manager for overseas investments, since 2019. Roshi has over 20 years of experience in asset management and previously she led equity strategies at HDFC AMC, focusing on mid and small-cap funds. She also worked with UTI Mutual Fund from 1999 to 2006, where she managed key equity portfolios.

Jain oversees domestic macroeconomic trends, which works well with Muchhal’s focus on international diversification using quantitative methods. This collaboration allows for quick adjustments, like increasing investments in cyclical sectors during the expected 2025 capital expenditure boom.

Also Read: Quant vs Nippon India Small Cap Fund: Which is better in 2025 .

Let us analyse the risks involved and the quality of the stocks in the funds.

Risk Measure and Stock Quality Analysis of Parag Parikh and HDFC Flexi Cap Fund

Here is the analysis of the risk measures and stock quality of Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund:

Risk Measures

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund clearly takes less risk than HDFC Flexi Cap Fund. Its volatility (standard deviation 8.41 vs 10.59), beta (0.56 vs 0.78) and max drawdown (‑5.78% vs ‑10.83%) are all lower, which means investors can expect a smoother experience and smaller losses.

At the same time, Parag Parikh’s Sharpe ratio (1.66 vs 1.40) and alpha (8.6 vs 7.46) are higher, showing it has rewarded investors better for each unit of risk taken.

HDFC Flexi Cap is a more aggressive option, while Parag Parikh offers better returns for long-term investors.

Stock Quality

Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund looks a bit more “value‑tilted” with a lower P/E (20.21 vs 21.31), while still delivering decent growth in earnings and sales. HDFC Flexi Cap Fund pays slightly more for faster earnings and sales growth, but both funds are cheaper and less growth‑chased than the average flexi‑cap portfolio. Look at the table below for a clear picture: 

Fundamental Ratios	Value of Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund	Value of HDFC Flexi Cap Fund
Sales Growth	10.8	12.66
Earning Growth	8.36	10.54
Cash Flow Growth	-0.21	-0.97
P/E Valuation	20.21	21.31

Parag Parikh offers you businesses that are relatively cheaper and grow a bit slower. In contrast, HDFC Flexi Cap focuses on slightly faster growth, though it comes at a higher but still reasonable price.

Pro Tip: Use a Lumpsum  Calculator to estimate the returns of your one-time investments.

Lastly, the main question: Which one is the best pick for you in 2026? Keep reading to know.

Parag Parikh vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund: Which One is the Best Pick in 2026?

For 2026, Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund suits investors who want smoother growth, lower volatility and strong long‑term risk‑adjusted performance. The investors who can handle more ups and downs in exchange for higher 3–5 year returns and a more aggressive, India‑focused growth tilt should go with the HDFC Flexi Cap Fund.

If you are an aggressive investor who believes in a strong and steady economy in India, the HDFC Flexi Cap Fund might be a good choice for you to seek higher short-term gains.

Suppose you are a moderate, long-term investor who prefers less risk, a smoother experience and diversification across global markets. In that case, the Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund is likely the better option.

Don’t Miss: Compare mutual funds and evaluate returns, risk, costs and objectives of two funds to choose wisely.

Conclusion

To conclude, Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund vs HDFC Flexi Cap Fund, choose Parag Parikh if you prioritise stability plus global diversification over maximum return and choose HDFC if you want stronger recent performance and are comfortable with a racier India‑heavy portfolio.

But in 2026, the best pick depends on your personal investment goals, risk profile and horizon.

Related Blogs:

1.    Top 10 Mutual Funds for SIP in 2025: Best Picks to Grow Wealth

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FAQs

1.Which fund is better for SIP in 2026?

For investors with moderate risk tolerance and long horizons, Parag Parikh is a good choice and for investors with high risk tolerance and who want an aggressive approach, they can choose HDFC Flexi Cap.

2.Can I invest in both Parag Parikh and HDFC Flexi Cap together?

Yes, combining both funds can give a balance of diversification and protection against losses with India‑focused growth potential.

3.Which fund is better for a 10‑year goal like retirement or children’s education?

For a period of 10 years or more, consider using Parag Parikh as your main investment for stability. Add HDFC Flexi Cap as an extra option for growth.

4.Do both funds qualify for tax treatment as equity mutual funds?

Yes, both are equity‑oriented flexi‑cap schemes, so they follow standard equity mutual fund taxation rules in India.

5.Is Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund suitable for first‑time equity investors?

First‑time equity investors often find Parag Parikh more comfortable due to its relatively lower volatility and disciplined, buy‑and‑hold style.