Direct answer
On 30 September 2026, the Regular plan of India's 50 largest active equity funds cost a median 0.78 percentage points a year more than the Direct plan of the same fund (range 0.47 to 1.11 points), based on AMFI's TER disclosures. For the 10 largest domestic index funds the median gap was 0.23 points.
Illustration: on a ₹10,000 monthly SIP, a 0.78-point gap compounds to about ₹8.60 lakh less after 20 years and ₹20.24 lakh less after 25 years, if the Direct plan earned 11% a year. Same portfolio, same manager — only the cost differs.
Method: what we measured
- Costs: Regular Plan and Direct Plan "Total TER" from AMFI's TER of MF Schemes, latest daily value for September 2026 (TER date 30 September 2026). Under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 2026, total TER = base expense ratio + brokerage + transaction costs + statutory levies (GST etc.).
- Size: schemes ranked by AMFI scheme-wise average AUM for April–June 2026, adding all plans and options of a scheme.
- Universe: 50 largest open-ended active equity schemes (sectoral and thematic funds excluded) and 10 largest domestic equity index funds (debt, target-maturity and international index funds excluded).
- Gap = Regular total TER − Direct total TER, in percentage points a year. Captured 3 October 2026. Download the CSV (free to reuse with a link to this page).
Key findings
- Median Regular TER across the 50 active funds: 1.70%; median Direct TER: 0.87%.
- Median gap 0.78 points; the widest was Bandhan Small Cap Fund (1.11 points) and the narrowest ICICI Prudential Value Fund (erstwhile Value Discovery Fund) (0.47 points).
- Every one of the 50 funds had a gap of at least 0.47 points — no large active equity fund came close to parity.
- Index funds are cheaper in both plans: median Regular TER 0.45% vs Direct 0.27%, a median gap of 0.23 points.
TER gap by category
| Category | Funds | Median Regular TER | Median Direct TER | Median gap | Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Cap | 8 | 1.69% | 0.76% | 0.85 pts | 0.71–1.11 |
| Mid Cap | 8 | 1.69% | 0.84% | 0.84 pts | 0.55–1.06 |
| Large & Mid Cap | 7 | 1.76% | 0.85% | 0.91 pts | 0.70–1.05 |
| Flexi Cap | 7 | 1.66% | 0.88% | 0.78 pts | 0.60–0.85 |
| Large Cap | 7 | 1.63% | 0.94% | 0.64 pts | 0.49–0.93 |
| Multi Cap | 5 | 1.77% | 0.94% | 0.78 pts | 0.74–1.10 |
| ELSS | 3 | 1.87% | 1.06% | 0.71 pts | 0.62–0.93 |
| Contra | 2 | 1.75% | 0.83% | 0.92 pts | 0.75–1.09 |
| Focused | 2 | 1.65% | 0.83% | 0.82 pts | 0.76–0.88 |
| Value | 1 | 1.56% | 1.09% | 0.47 pts | 0.47–0.47 |
| Index funds (10) | 10 | 0.45% | 0.27% | 0.23 pts | 0.12–0.74 |
What the gap costs in rupees
₹10,000 monthly SIP. Direct plan assumed to earn 11% a year after costs (an illustration, not a forecast); Regular plan earns the same minus the gap. The gap figures are from the AMFI data above.
| TER gap | After 10 years | After 20 years | After 25 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.47 pts (narrowest large fund) | ₹59,545 | ₹5,27,359 | ₹12,48,742 |
| 0.78 pts (median, 50 active funds) | ₹98,355 | ₹8,60,380 | ₹20,24,145 |
| 1.11 pts (widest large fund) | ₹1,37,501 | ₹11,87,787 | ₹27,76,183 |
| 0.23 pts (median index fund) | ₹28,754 | ₹2,57,149 | ₹6,12,044 |
Try your own SIP, lumpsum and TERs in the direct vs regular calculator.
Context: SEBI's 2026 expense caps
The SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 2026 (effective 1 April 2026) cap the base expense ratio at 0.90% for index funds and ETFs and at 2.10% on the first ₹500 crore for actively managed open-ended equity schemes, falling in slabs as assets grow. Because the funds in this study are very large, their TERs sit well below the first-slab cap — but the Regular–Direct gap persists at every size because distributor commission is paid from the Regular plan's expenses.
All 60 funds: Regular vs Direct TER (30 September 2026)
| Scheme | Category | Avg AUM April–June 2026 (₹ cr) | Regular TER | Direct TER | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund | Flexi Cap | 1,40,660 | 1.30% | 0.69% | 0.61 |
| HDFC Flexi Cap Fund | Flexi Cap | 1,01,793 | 1.37% | 0.77% | 0.60 |
| HDFC Mid Cap Fund | Mid Cap | 96,040 | 1.31% | 0.76% | 0.55 |
| ICICI Prudential Large Cap Fund (erstwhile Bluechip Fund) | Large Cap | 76,534 | 1.50% | 1.01% | 0.49 |
| Nippon India Small Cap Fund | Small Cap | 73,159 | 1.40% | 0.69% | 0.71 |
| Kotak Mid Cap Fund | Mid Cap | 64,136 | 1.51% | 0.54% | 0.97 |
| ICICI Prudential Value Fund (erstwhile Value Discovery Fund) | Value | 59,433 | 1.56% | 1.09% | 0.47 |
| Kotak Flexi Cap Fund | Flexi Cap | 54,857 | 1.49% | 0.66% | 0.83 |
| SBI Large Cap Fund | Large Cap | 53,585 | 1.52% | 0.90% | 0.62 |
| Nippon India Multi Cap Fund | Multi Cap | 52,649 | 1.62% | 0.88% | 0.74 |
| Nippon India Large Cap Fund | Large Cap | 51,621 | 1.63% | 0.88% | 0.75 |
| SBI Contra Fund | Contra | 47,114 | 1.63% | 0.88% | 0.75 |
| Nippon India Growth Mid Cap Fund | Mid Cap | 46,445 | 1.55% | 0.80% | 0.75 |
| SBI Focused Fund | Focused | 45,518 | 1.60% | 0.84% | 0.76 |
| Mirae Asset Large & Midcap Fund | Large & Mid Cap | 42,523 | 1.76% | 0.85% | 0.91 |
| SBI Large & Midcap Fund | Large & Mid Cap | 38,974 | 1.65% | 0.86% | 0.79 |
| HDFC Small Cap Fund | Small Cap | 38,667 | 1.56% | 0.79% | 0.77 |
| HDFC Large Cap Fund | Large Cap | 38,097 | 1.58% | 1.04% | 0.54 |
| Mirae Asset Large Cap Fund | Large Cap | 38,017 | 1.70% | 0.77% | 0.93 |
| SBI Small Cap Fund | Small Cap | 37,116 | 1.59% | 0.80% | 0.79 |
| Motilal Oswal Midcap Fund | Mid Cap | 36,069 | 1.64% | 0.93% | 0.71 |
| Axis Midcap Fund | Mid Cap | 32,454 | 1.80% | 0.84% | 0.96 |
| Axis ELSS Tax Saver Fund | ELSS | 31,318 | 1.77% | 1.06% | 0.71 |
| SBI ELSS Tax Saver Fund | ELSS | 31,029 | 1.87% | 1.25% | 0.62 |
| Quant Small Cap Fund | Small Cap | 30,875 | 1.75% | 0.93% | 0.82 |
| Axis Large Cap Fund | Large Cap | 30,395 | 1.78% | 0.94% | 0.84 |
| Kotak Large & Mid Cap Fund | Large & Mid Cap | 30,228 | 1.66% | 0.67% | 0.99 |
| ICICI Prudential Large & Mid Cap Fund | Large & Mid Cap | 29,975 | 2.04% | 1.28% | 0.76 |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life Large Cap Fund | Large Cap | 28,763 | 1.68% | 1.04% | 0.64 |
| HDFC Large & Mid Cap Fund | Large & Mid Cap | 28,339 | 1.62% | 0.92% | 0.70 |
| Axis Small Cap Fund | Small Cap | 27,535 | 1.69% | 0.72% | 0.97 |
| HDFC Focused Fund | Focused | 26,336 | 1.70% | 0.82% | 0.88 |
| Bandhan Small Cap Fund | Small Cap | 26,012 | 1.72% | 0.61% | 1.11 |
| Kotak Multi Cap Fund | Multi Cap | 25,937 | 1.80% | 0.70% | 1.10 |
| Aditya Birla Sun Life Flexi Cap Fund | Flexi Cap | 25,788 | 1.66% | 0.89% | 0.77 |
| Mirae Asset ELSS Tax Saver Fund | ELSS | 25,328 | 1.96% | 1.03% | 0.93 |
| Canara Robeco Large and Mid Cap Fund | Large & Mid Cap | 24,599 | 1.77% | 0.77% | 1.00 |
| SBI Midcap Fund | Mid Cap | 23,203 | 1.80% | 1.02% | 0.78 |
| SBI MultiCap Fund | Multi Cap | 23,060 | 1.87% | 1.09% | 0.78 |
| SBI Flexicap Fund | Flexi Cap | 22,384 | 2.04% | 1.25% | 0.79 |
| ICICI Prudential Flexi Cap Fund | Flexi Cap | 21,165 | 1.73% | 0.88% | 0.85 |
| HDFC Multi Cap Fund | Multi Cap | 19,551 | 1.77% | 0.94% | 0.83 |
| DSP Midcap Fund | Mid Cap | 19,539 | 1.74% | 0.84% | 0.90 |
| Invesco India Contra Fund | Contra | 19,492 | 1.87% | 0.78% | 1.09 |
| Franklin India Flexi Cap Fund | Flexi Cap | 18,941 | 1.77% | 0.99% | 0.78 |
| Mirae Asset Midcap Fund | Mid Cap | 18,571 | 2.03% | 0.97% | 1.06 |
| DSP Small Cap Fund | Small Cap | 18,087 | 1.70% | 0.81% | 0.89 |
| Kotak Small Cap Fund | Small Cap | 17,608 | 1.73% | 0.65% | 1.08 |
| DSP Large & Mid Cap Fund | Large & Mid Cap | 17,405 | 1.84% | 0.79% | 1.05 |
| ICICI Prudential Multi Cap Fund | Multi Cap | 17,214 | 1.76% | 1.02% | 0.74 |
| UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund | Index | 27,826 | 0.37% | 0.25% | 0.12 |
| HDFC Nifty 50 Index Fund | Index | 23,218 | 0.44% | 0.29% | 0.15 |
| ICICI Prudential Nifty 50 Index Fund | Index | 16,449 | 0.45% | 0.24% | 0.21 |
| SBI Nifty Index Fund | Index | 13,288 | 0.43% | 0.23% | 0.20 |
| ICICI Prudential Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | Index | 9,011 | 0.76% | 0.37% | 0.39 |
| HDFC BSE Sensex Index Fund | Index | 8,439 | 0.38% | 0.22% | 0.16 |
| UTI Nifty 200 Momentum 30 Index Fund | Index | 8,405 | 1.36% | 0.89% | 0.47 |
| UTI Nifty Next 50 Index Fund | Index | 6,630 | 0.87% | 0.42% | 0.45 |
| Navi Nifty 50 Index Fund | Index | 3,926 | 0.34% | 0.10% | 0.24 |
| Motilal Oswal Nifty Midcap 150 Index Fund | Index | 3,482 | 1.09% | 0.35% | 0.74 |
Source: AMFI TER of MF Schemes (Total TER, Regular and Direct plans, TER date 30 September 2026); AMFI scheme-wise average AUM, April–June 2026. TERs change often — check the scheme's latest disclosure before investing. Listing a scheme here is not a recommendation.
Fairness check: what the Regular plan pays for
The extra cost funds the distributor's trail commission. For some investors that buys real value: onboarding, the right category for each goal, staying invested through a crash, rebalancing and tax-aware redemptions. Behaviour gaps — selling at the bottom, chasing last year's winner — can cost more than 0.78 points a year. If you choose Direct, you take on that work yourself; if you stay Regular, make sure you are getting the service. Either way, measure your real return with XIRR and avoid paying twice for the same exposure — see folio sprawl and overlap.
Disclosure: Findost's founder is a NISM-certified Mutual Fund Distributor and Findost offers mutual funds through a distribution partner, so we have a commercial interest in Regular plans. This study uses only public AMFI data and is published as general education.