HDFC Value Fund: Wealth creation by uncovering value

HDFC Value Fund has a track record of 30+ years. Formerly known as HDFC Capital Builder Fund, it a terrific track record of wealth creation. If you invested Rs 10,000 in the scheme every month since inception, you could have accumulated a corpus of Rs 11.7 crores (as on 28^th November 2025) with a cumulative investment of just Rs 38.2 lakhs (see the chart below). The fund managers of this scheme follow the value style of investing. In value style of investing, fund managers seek to identify and invest in stocks that are trading at discounts to their intrinsic valuation or trading below their historical valuation multiples (e.g., PE, PB etc). In this article we will review HDFC Value Fund.

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 30^th November 2025

Outperformed the benchmark index

The chart below shows the 5 year rolling returns of the fund (rolled daily) versus the benchmark index, Nifty 500 TRI over the last 20 years. You can see that except a brief period, the fund consistently outperformed the benchmark index across all market conditions – bull markets, bear markets, range-bound markets etc.

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 16^th December 2025

The table below shows the average, median, maximum and minimum rolling returns of the fund versus the benchmark index for different investment tenures over the last 20 years. You can see that, across all investment tenures, the average and median rolling returns of the fund was higher than that of the benchmark index.

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 16^th December 2025. Fund: HDFC Value Fund. Benchmark: Nifty 500 TRI

The fund had higher percentage instances of 12%+ CAGR instance across different investment tenures compared to the benchmark index – showing higher performance consistency relative the benchmark.

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 16^th December 2025. Fund: HDFC Value Fund. Benchmark: Nifty 500 TRI

Outperformed the category

The chart below shows the 5 year rolling returns of the fund (rolled daily) versus the value funds category average over the last 20 years. You can see that the fund consistently outperformed the category average across all market conditions – bull markets, bear markets, range-bound markets etc.

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 16^th December 2025

The fund had higher percentage instances of 12%+ CAGR instance across different investment tenures compared to the benchmark index. At the same the fund had lesser percentage instances of negative returns compared to the category average. You can see that fund provided better risk / return trade-off to investors compared peer average

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 16^th December 2025. Fund: HDFC Value Fund. Category: Value Funds category average

Drawdowns

The table below shows the major corrections in the market over the last 25 years. You can see that the HDFC Value Fund experienced lesser drawdowns compared to the benchmark index in most cases, limiting downside risks for investors

Source: Advisorkhoj Research

SIP Rolling Returns

The chart below shows the 20 year rolling SIP returns of HDFC Value Fund since the inception of the scheme. You can see that the minimum 20 year SIP returns of the fund was 14% or higher.

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 16^th December 2025

Over 10 year plus SIP tenures, HDFC Value Fund gave 12%+ CAGR returns in more than 90% of the instances. You should have long investment tenures for this fund.

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 16^th December 2025

What is value?

• Absolute value: Companies trading below intrinsic value, as measured by potential earnings or asset values, and/or future cash flow growth


• Turnaround: Companies in turnaround phase – Good businesses that have gone through a temporary difficult period and de-rated but are poised for turnaround in profitability


• Relative value: Companies trading below their historical average multiples

Higher large cap allocations relative to peers

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, as on 30^th November 2025

Current portfolio positioning

Source: Advisorkhoj Research, HDFC MF, as on 30^th November 2025

Who should invest in HDFC Value Fund?

• Investors who want to invest in undervalued companies


• Investors seeking to invest in a diversified (multicap) portfolio with a long term horizon


• Investors aiming for twin benefits of earnings growth as well as re-rating of valuation multiples


• Investors looking for a sound and disciplined approach to investing amidst volatile market conditions


• Investors with very high risk appetite


• Investors with minimum 5 year investment horizon

Investors should consult their financial advisors or mutual fund distributors if HDFC Value Fund is suitable for their investment needs.