Monthly factor report · India

India Factor Report — July 2026

How the major equity style factors — value, momentum, quality and low volatility — are performing in India, tracked through their flagship NSE factor indices. Free, and updated every month.

Trailing 1-year total return Data as of 30 Jul 2026

The factor scoreboard

Ranked by trailing 1-year total return. Each factor is represented by its flagship NSE index (tracked via a low-cost index fund, Direct Plan). Nifty 50 is shown as the broad-market baseline.

1
Value LeaderNifty500 Value 50
+16.9%
2
Low VolatilityNifty500 Low Volatility 50
+6.7%
3
QualityNifty200 Quality 30
+3.4%
4
Momentum LaggardNifty500 Momentum 50
+1.3%
—
Broad market (baseline)Nifty 50
−0.9%

What led, what lagged

Value extended its lead. Over the trailing year the Nifty500 Value 50 returned about +17% — up from +14% last month — while the broad Nifty 50 finished slightly negative at −0.9%. That is a spread of roughly 18 percentage points between the best-performing style and the index. Cheaply-valued cyclicals, PSUs and capital-goods names continued to do the heavy lifting.

Every factor beat the market this month. That is the notable change from June, when three of the four were negative. Low Volatility rose to +6.7%, and the two styles that had been lagging both recovered into positive territory — Quality from −3.8% to +3.4%, and Momentum from −2.4% to +1.3%. Momentum now sits last of the four, but "last" this month still means ahead of the broad index.

The one-line takeaway for July 2026: value led decisively, and all four major factors finished ahead of the Nifty 50. Factor leadership rotates, which is why our books combine several signal families rather than bet on one style — whether that pays is what the published record is for.

How MindForge uses factors

Two of the four styles above — momentum and low volatility — are in the same families as the signals our equity books rank on. Quality and value are not: the books use price and volume data only, no fundamentals. Every book is rebalanced monthly and holds its names in equal weight.

Momentum & trendThe main signal family behind LargeMidcap 250 and SmallMicro 500: how a stock’s price has moved, and how steadily.
VolatilityCalmer names rank ahead of erratic ones, so the concentrated books lean away from blow-off moves; every name held still carries the same weight.
LiquidityTrading volume is part of the ranking too, so the books stay in names that can actually be bought and sold.
Multi-asset rotationMultiAsset ranks its eight ETFs — Indian equity, the Nasdaq-100, gold, silver and bonds — on similar price-based signals each month.
See the strategies these factors power →

Report archive

Every month's edition, kept for the record.

Methodology & sources

Each factor is represented by its flagship NSE factor index, measured through a low-cost index fund tracking that index (Direct Plan). Returns are trailing 1-year total returns as of the date shown, so every factor is compared on the same clock. Nifty 50 is the broad-market baseline.

  • Value — Nifty500 Value 50 (UTI Nifty 500 Value 50 Index Fund)
  • Low Volatility — Nifty500 Low Volatility 50 (Nippon India Nifty 500 Low Volatility 50 Index Fund)
  • Momentum — Nifty500 Momentum 50 (Nippon India Nifty 500 Momentum 50 Index Fund)
  • Quality — Nifty200 Quality 30 (UTI Nifty200 Quality 30 Index Fund)
  • Baseline — Nifty 50 (UTI Nifty 50 Index Fund)
  • Trailing 1-year returns computed from official AMFI daily NAVs (Direct Plan, Growth) — 31 Jul 2025 → 30 Jul 2026, the latest published NAV date.

Factor and index returns are historical and will change. This report is educational commentary, not investment advice or a recommendation of any index, fund or security. Past performance does not guarantee future results.