Best Low Duration Funds in India
22 low duration funds in India, of which 20 meet the eligibility criteria, ranked on expense ratio. Where do I keep money for days or weeks?
Returns in this group cluster within ~0.5 percentage points, so ranking by return is noise. Ranked on cost and liquidity instead.
Low Duration Funds ranked by expense ratio
Badges are our own quality tiers — Platinum (top 10%), Gold (25%), Silver (50%), Bronze (75%) — scored within each sub-category, so they compare a fund with its peers and not with funds of a different type. “3Y typical” is the median annualised return across every 3-year holding period the fund has lived through, not a single 3-year figure; “3Y loss odds” is the share of those periods that ended down. “Beat peers” is the share in which it beat its category's median, and “worst fall” is its deepest peak-to-trough drop. Open a fund for the full distribution. Click any numeric column to re-sort; funds with no value for that column sort last. Returns over 1 year are annualised (CAGR). Past performance does not indicate future returns. Eligibility: Direct, Growth only, minimum AUM ₹100 Cr, at least 1 year(s) old. Past performance. Returns for 3y/5y are annualised (CAGR) and are withheld where the NAV series does not support the period.
Low Duration Funds — FAQs
Which fund type suits money I need in a few weeks?
Overnight and liquid funds are designed for very short horizons and hold instruments maturing in 1–91 days. Ultra-short, low-duration and money-market funds sit slightly further out. The trade-off is small: these categories differ far more in cost than in return.
Why are these funds ranked on expense ratio rather than returns?
Returns across this group cluster within roughly half a percentage point, so ordering by return mostly surfaces whichever fund caught a rate movement — noise, not skill. Expense ratio is the most consistent differentiator, because it is deducted from a return the whole category shares.
How quickly can I get my money back?
Overnight and liquid funds typically settle in one business day, and liquid funds offer an instant-redemption facility subject to limits. Check each scheme’s exit load: liquid funds carry a small graded load if redeemed within seven days.
Are these safer than a savings account?
They are not guaranteed. They invest in short-maturity debt, so they carry limited interest-rate and credit risk rather than none. Historically they have been low-volatility, but a credit event in an underlying holding can still affect NAV.