Diversification<\/a>, being one of the fundamental tenets of investing, is often a top priority when investing in mutual funds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The primary objective is to minimise the risk during volatile market conditions and earn better risk-adjusted returns in the long run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, does merely holding multiple mutual fund schemes guarantee effective diversification?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many investors, in the endeavour to diversify often keep adding mutual fund schemes to their portfolio. At times, the schemes added are of similar management styles, mandates, and\/or portfolio characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The decision to add the scheme is made because a next-door neighbour, friend, relative, or colleague suggested investing or because some fund house has launched a new scheme and distributor\/agent recommended it for his\/her personal gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Indian mutual fund industry has been in a race to garner more Assets Under Management (AUM) by launching several New Fund Offers (NFOs).<\/p>\n\n\n\n In CY 2024 alone, 428 New Fund Offers (NFOs)<\/a> were introduced, and as of February 28, 2025, 95 more have been launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Investors are often drawn to NFOs due to the Rs 10\/- proposition and hope that getting in early on would be a potentially lucrative investment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, many mutual fund houses too, build their product basket based on what investors are favouring rather than what would be a prudent choice for investors. For example, several fund houses launched Sector & Thematic Funds<\/a>, Small Cap Funds<\/a>, as well as Index Funds and Exchange Traded Funds (passive funds<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a result, investors have ended up over-crowding or over-diversifying their portfolios<\/a>. In certain cases, we have seen investors holding over 40-50 mutual fund schemes in their portfolio and, in many cases, there are overlapping holdings in terms of investment styles, market cap exposure and sectoral exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While this may create an illusion of a well-diversified portfolio, in reality, this leads to mutual fund overlap<\/a>, which is counter-productive to the objective of diversification and wealth creation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What Is Mutual Fund Portfolio Overlap?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mutual fund overlap refers to a situation of duplications of securities in the portfolio. It happens when you hold two or more schemes that are investing in similar securities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Table: An Illustration of Overlapping Mutual Funds<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n