A remarkably consistent performer in a very whimsical category, this fund has stayed put at a four star rating for the last seven years.

Usually parking about 55 to 65 per cent in mid-cap companies, the fund has tended to invest about 30 per cent in large-caps, with a residual position in small-caps. Broadly it has been underweight on small-cap stocks relative to the peers in this category. The fund follows a growth at a reasonable price strategy.

While the HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund three-year return, at 17.9 per cent, is one percentage point ahead of the category and its benchmark returns, the five year returns are 6 percentage points higher than the benchmark returns and beat its peers' returns by about 3 percentage points. What stands out in its annual returns is its ability to weather any kind of bear market. In 2008, 2011 and 2013, this was a rare mid-cap fund to contain losses to levels far lower than those of its benchmark.

While many mid-cap funds have struggled to beat their benchmarks in the last one year, this fund has held up better. However, popularity has resulted in a rapid burgeoning of the fund's size, from under Rs 10,000 crore in early 2016 to over Rs 19,000 crore now.

HDFC Mid-Cap Opportunities Fund makes it by far the largest fund in this category. So far, size has not proved a big impediment to performance but the returns do bear watching for this reason.