ABSTRACT
The Indian mutual fund industry has witnessed unprecedented growth, with assets under management crossing ₹53 lakh crore by March 2024. This study undertakes a systematic comparative analysis of selected equity and debt mutual fund schemes offered by HDFC Funds Management Private Limited over the five-year period from April 2019 to March 2024. Six equity schemes, HDFC Top 100 Fund, HDFC Flexi Cap Fund, HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund, HDFC Small Cap Fund, HDFC Large & Mid Cap Fund, and HDFC ELSS Tax Saver Fund and five debt schemes, HDFC Liquid Fund, HDFC Short Term Debt Fund, HDFC Corporate Bond Fund, HDFC Banking & PSU Debt Fund, and HDFC Gilt
Fund, are evaluated using standard performance metrics including Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), Standard Deviation, Beta, Sharpe Ratio, Treynor Ratio, and Jensen's Alpha. The 91-day T-Bill rate is used as the risk-free rate, and the BSE Sensex TRI and CRISIL Composite Bond Fund Index serve as respective benchmarks. Hypothesis testing employing One-Way ANOVA and independent samples t-test confirms statistically significant differences within each asset class while establishing statistically equivalent riskadjusted efficiency across equity and debt categories. The findings validate the equity risk premium theory and highlight the complementary portfolio roles of equity and debt mutual fund schemes.

Keywords: Equity Mutual Funds, Debt Mutual Funds, HDFC Funds Management, Sharpe Ratio, Jensen's Alpha, Risk-Adjusted Performance