Nifty 500 Historical Returns
The Nifty 500 covers about 500 companies, roughly 90% of the market value of listed Indian companies: large, mid and small. Figures come from the NAV of a fund that tracks it, so returns include dividends and are after fund costs.
Price history
Month-end values. Hover a year-end point for its value.
About Nifty 500
The Nifty 500 covers about 500 companies, roughly 90% of the market value of listed Indian companies: large, mid and small.
What it means for investors. It is the broadest view of the Indian market here and is the benchmark for many flexi-cap and multi-cap funds.
Returns over time
| Series | 1Y | 3Y | 5Y | 10Y | 15Y | 20Y | Max fall | Data to |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nifty 500 | −3.9% | 8.9% | 8.6% | n/a | n/a | n/a | −37% | 1 Oct 2026 |
Annualised (CAGR) for periods of a year or more, ending on each series' latest date. “n/a” means the series does not go back that far. Max fall: the largest fall from a previous peak over the whole history.
AMFI NAV history (daily NAV file; earlier history via mfapi.in, which republishes AMFI NAVs), stored and cleaned by MFIC. Proxy: Motilal Oswal Nifty 500 Index Fund (growth) (total return after fund costs (proxy)). Data 11 Sep 2019 to 1 Oct 2026. Latest level: NSE daily index closing values. Returns use the fund NAV history, which includes dividends.
Calendar-year returns
| Year | Return |
|---|---|
| 2026 to 1 Oct | −7.8% |
| 2025 | 7.7% |
| 2024 | 15.6% |
| 2023 | 26.5% |
| 2022 | 3.8% |
| 2021 | 30.6% |
| 2020 | 17.2% |
| 2019 part year | 9.7% |
Over 6 complete calendar years since 2020, Nifty 500 rose in 6. Best: 2021 (+30.6%). Worst: 2022 (+3.8%).
Year-end to year-end, from AMFI NAV history (daily NAV file; earlier history via mfapi.in, which republishes AMFI NAVs), stored and cleaned by MFIC.
Falls from peak and recovery
| Peak | Bottom | Fall | Months down | Back to peak | Months to recover | Events in the fall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 2024 | Feb 2025 | −18.6% | 5 | not yet | — | — |
| Dec 2022 | Mar 2023 | −11.2% | 4 | Jun 2023 | 2 | — |
| Oct 2021 | Jun 2022 | −18.0% | 8 | Nov 2022 | 5 | Russia–Ukraine war begins; RBI off-cycle rate hike |
| Jan 2020 | Mar 2020 | −37.3% | 2 | Nov 2020 | 8 | COVID-19 declared a pandemic |
Each fall of 10% or more from a previous high, measured on daily data. The 4 deepest are shown. “Back to peak” is the first date it regained the previous high.
Rolling returns: the range of outcomes
| Holding period | Periods | Median | Worst | Best | Middle half | Positive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 year | 73 | 11.0% | −5.4% | 75.1% | 3.8% to 33.4% | 86% |
| 3 years | 49 | 17.3% | 9.2% | 27.9% | 15.0% to 19.7% | 100% |
| 5 years | 25 | 18.1% | 8.7% | 25.5% | 13.6% to 20.6% | 100% |
Every holding period starting at a month-end in the history (overlapping). Annualised for periods over a year.
How it has moved with other assets
| Compared with | Correlation | Months |
|---|---|---|
| Nifty 50 | 0.98 | 84 |
| Gold (domestic, ₹) | −0.03 | 84 |
| 10-year G-Sec (bond fund) | 0.22 | 84 |
| USD/INR | −0.56 | 84 |
| BSE Sensex | 0.97 | 84 |
Correlation of monthly returns over the months both series have: +1 moves together, 0 unrelated, −1 opposite. Relationships change over time.
Questions
- What has Nifty 500 returned over the long run?
- Calculated from Motilal Oswal Nifty 500 Index Fund (growth), Nifty 500 returned 8.6% a year over the 5 years to 1 Oct 2026, and 8.9% a year over 3 years. Past returns do not indicate future returns.
- What was the biggest fall in Nifty 500?
- In the data available from Sep 2019, the largest fall from a previous peak was −37.3%, from Jan 2020 to Mar 2020, and it regained the peak in Nov 2020 (8 months after the bottom). There were 4 falls of 10% or more, 1 of them 20% or more.
- How often has Nifty 500 been positive over one year?
- Across 73 one-year periods starting at month-ends, 86% were positive; the range was −5.4% to 75.1%. Over five-year periods (25), 100% were positive, with annualised returns from 8.7% to 25.5%.
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