1 in 5 Nifty 50 stocks lost money—even as the index grew
Surprisingly, nearly 20% of Nifty 50 stocks have delivered flat or negative returns over the past three years, even though the index itself delivered returns of around 12%.
Big names like TCS, Infosys, Reliance, and Adani Enterprises are on that underperformer list.
Why does this matter?
These lagging stocks make up about a fifth of mutual fund equity investments—so if you're investing through mutual funds, you're probably affected.
HDFC Bank and Reliance alone account for massive amounts: ₹3.37 lakh crore and ₹1.99 lakh crore as of December 2025.
Some of these shares generated lower returns than fixed deposits over the three-year period ending Jan 19, 2026.
What's behind it?
Experts say mature large-cap companies are seeing slower growth and profit growth of about 5-6% each year.
As Shankar Sharma points out, the usual link between India's economic growth and big company profits is weakening.
Deepak Jasani, an independent research analyst, suggests it might be time for investors to look at high-growth firms instead.