Small caps are listed companies ranked 251st and below by full market value on AMFI's half-yearly list.
AMFI's list, revised every January and July, ranks companies by their full market value averaged over the previous six months. Everything after the top 250 is a small cap. That covers thousands of listed companies, from fairly large businesses just below the mid-cap cut-off to very small ones.
Small caps include young companies, niche manufacturers, regional lenders and businesses in fast-growing industries. Their prices have historically swung more than those of larger companies, with bigger rises in good years and deeper falls in bad ones. Drawdowns of 40% or more have happened in past downturns.
Their shares also trade in smaller volumes. A fund holding many small caps may take longer to sell them without pushing prices down, especially when many investors redeem at once. Since 2024, fund houses have published regular stress tests for their small-cap and mid-cap funds, showing roughly how many days it would take to sell a set share of the portfolio.
A small-cap fund keeps at least 65% in small caps. Some small-cap funds have limited lump-sum purchases at times, to control how fast new money comes in.
Each fund page has its returns, risk, costs, managers and everything it holds.