Asset Performance Dashboard
10 Years of Nifty, Gold & Sector Returns
Which Asset Class Won Each Year? 10-Year Performance of Nifty, Sectors, Gold & Nasdaq
Ten years of Indian market data, side-by-side. Compare the yearly returns, 10 year CAGR and volatility of Nifty 50, Nifty 500, Midcap, Smallcap, Gold, Nasdaq and 13 Nifty sector indices. See why no single asset class consistently wins and why diversification isn't advice, it's math.
What This Dashboard Tells You
Every financial year, one asset class tops the chart. The next year, a different one does. Over the last 10 years on this dashboard, Nifty Smallcap 250 won 3 times, Gold won 3 times, Nasdaq won twice, and Nifty Midcap 150 won twice: yet every one of these "winner" asset classes also appeared near the bottom of the ranking in at least one other year. Nifty Smallcap 250 was #1 in FY17 with +40.6%, then crashed to #11 in FY19 with a –12.4% loss.
That's the whole point of this chart. When you watch the colour blocks rotate up and down across FY17 to FY26, you're watching the core truth of market cycles play out: asset class leadership rotates, and trying to predict next year's winner is a losing game for most investors. Diversification across asset classes isn't a slogan advisors repeat: it's the mathematical response to this much volatility.
Switch to the Nifty Sectors tab and the rotation becomes even sharper. Across 13 Nifty sector indices, Nifty Metal swung from –47.0% in FY20 to +154.3% in FY21. Nifty Realty went from –8.1% in FY19 to +133.4% in FY24. Nifty IT posted +105.8% in FY21 and –16.2% in FY23. The gap between best and worst sector in any given year regularly exceeds 60 percentage points: a margin that makes sector concentration a high-stakes bet, not an investment strategy.
What this 10-year chart proves about asset class behaviour:
- A "safe" asset one year can be the worst performer the next: Gold was #1 in FY25 and FY26 after sitting at #9 or lower for 6 of the previous 8 years
- A single strong year doesn't redeem a decade: Nifty Smallcap 250's 10-year CAGR is 14.5%, but with 19.2% volatility it's the bumpiest broad-market asset on the chart
- Nifty sector indices rotate more violently than broad indices: the best sector in any single year rarely repeats that rank in the following year
- The 60/40 (NIFTY 500/Gold) blended portfolio has the highest 10-year CAGR with the lowest volatility: showing that diversification mathematically beats single-asset bets over a full market cycle
How to Read This 10-Year Asset Performance Dashboard
Choose Your View
Toggle between the two tabs at the top of the dashboard. "Broad Market & Portfolios" shows Nifty 50, Nifty 100, Nifty 500, Midcap 150, Smallcap 250, Gold, Nasdaq plus 4 blended model portfolios (80/20, 60/40, 80/10/10, 60/20/20: all Nifty, Gold & Nasdaq combinations). "Nifty Sectors" shows all 13 Nifty sector indices: Auto, Bank, Chemicals, Consumer, Financial Services, FMCG, Healthcare, IT, Media, Metal, Oil & Gas, Pharma and Realty.
Read Each Column Vertically
Each column is one financial year (1 April to 31 March). Asset classes stack top to bottom by rank: #1 at the top is the best performer that year, #11 (or #13 for sectors) at the bottom is the worst. Block colour reinforces the number: deep green for strong positive returns, deep red for sharp losses, muted tones for moderate moves.
Trace an Asset's 10-Year Journey
Hover over any asset class to highlight its path across all 10 years. Click once to pin it: a side panel opens showing that asset's mini-chart, 10-year CAGR, volatility and the full year-by-year breakdown FY17 to FY26. Pin Gold and you'll see a 17.3% 10-year CAGR with 14.0% volatility. Pin Nasdaq and you'll see 21.0% CAGR with 21.6% volatility: the highest swings on the chart.
Understand the Summary Columns
The final two columns aggregate the decade. "10Y CAGR" is the annualised return: the steady rate at which the asset would have grown from FY17 to FY26 if returns compounded smoothly. "Volatility" is the standard deviation of those annual returns: how much the yearly numbers swung around the average. Both columns rank the same way: #1 is better (highest CAGR, lowest volatility).
Know What's Under the Numbers
All Nifty and Nifty sector returns on this dashboard use Total Return Index (TRI): meaning dividends are reinvested, not stripped out. Nifty TRI captures both price movement AND dividend income, giving you the actual annualised return an investor would have received. Gold returns are in domestic INR from MCX. Nasdaq returns are converted to INR at each year's USD-INR exchange rate. No simplifications. These are the real numbers.
The Data Behind 10 Years of Asset Class Performance
| Stats | Context |
| 17.3% | Gold's 10-year CAGR in INR terms: Gold CAGR that outperformed Nifty 50's 12.5% and beat 7 of 11 broad-market asset classes. Gold returns in INR also reflect a USD-INR currency tailwind. |
| 12.5% | Nifty 50's 10-year return on a Total Return Index basis (FY17–FY26). Ranked #11 among broad-market asset classes on this dashboard: the headline index, while stable, underperformed midcap, small-cap, Gold and every blended portfolio. |
| 13.5% | Nifty 500 returns over the 10-year window. Nifty 500 sits between Nifty 50 (12.5%) and Midcap 150 (17.5%) on both returns and volatility: the balanced middle for broad-equity exposure. |
| 21.5% | Nifty Metal's 10-year CAGR: the #1 performing Nifty sector index over FY17 to FY26, paired with 28.1% annualised volatility. Nifty Metal went from –47.0% in FY20 to +154.3% in FY21. |
| 10.9% | The 60/40 Nifty 500-Gold blended portfolio's 10-year CAGR: the lowest-volatility allocation on this chart and the #1 risk-adjusted return over the full decade. |
| 3 years | Number of times Nifty Small-cap 250 ranked #1 in a single financial year (FY17, FY21, FY24). Despite these three wins, it sits at #8 on the 10-year CAGR summary: proof that individual winning years don't translate to decade-level outperformance. |
| 10 years | FY17 (1 April 2016) to FY26 (31 March 2026): one full decade of Total Return Index data sourced from NSE India (equity), MCX (gold) and Nasdaq 100 TR Index (converted to INR). |
5 Investment Lessons Hidden in 10 Years of Asset Class Data
A Diversified Portfolio Beats a Hero: Asset Bet
The 60/40 Nifty 500-Gold blended portfolio has the #1 10-year CAGR on this dashboard at 10.9% and the lowest volatility. It never ranked #1 in any single year, but it also never ranked #11. A simple diversified portfolio quietly beat every single-asset concentration bet over the decade. That's the lesson most investors don't see until they look at 10 years of data.
Use Model Portfolios as Your Benchmark
Four model portfolios are tested on this chart: 80/20, 60/40, 80/10/10 and 60/20/20 combinations of Nifty 500, Gold and Nasdaq. All four cluster in the middle of the ranking every year. Whatever your current asset mix, compare it against these four model portfolios. If you're consistently outside this middle band, you're taking either unnecessary risk or missing an obvious compounder.
Rebalancing Is Not Optional: It's Mechanical Risk Control
Every blended portfolio on this chart assumes quarterly rebalancing back to target weights. This matters because without rebalancing, a portfolio drifts: a strong equity year turns a 60/40 into a 75/25, quietly pushing your risk up. Rebalancing forces you to sell high and buy low by construction. For individual investors, annual or threshold-based (5% drift trigger) rebalancing captures most of the benefit at lower transaction cost.
Your Asset Allocation Strategy Matters More Than Fund Selection
Research consistently shows asset allocation drives positive long-term investment outcomes; picking the "right" mutual fund within an asset class drives the rest. This dashboard makes that visible: the gap between the best and worst asset class in any year regularly exceeds 40 percentage points. The gap between two well-run large-cap mutual funds is usually 1–2 percentage points. Get the asset mix right first; optimise fund selection second.
The Ideal Portfolio Allocation Depends on Your Horizon
There is no single "best" ideal portfolio allocation: the 60/40 delivered highest risk-adjusted returns on this 10-year window, but a 35-year-old with 20 years to retirement may rationally tilt more equity-heavy to capture long-term investing compounding. A 55-year-old nearing retirement may rationally tilt toward stability. Novelty Wealth's SEBI-registered advisors build the allocation around your actual horizon, not a generic template.
More Tools to Strengthen Your Portfolio
SIP Calculator
See how your monthly SIPs compound into long-term wealth: benchmark your target against the 10-year Nifty 500 CAGR.
XIRR Calculator
Measure your actual investment returns across SIPs and lump sums: compare against asset-class CAGR averages on this page.
Mutual Fund Overlap Tool
Check whether your mutual funds are holding the same stocks: avoid fake diversification before you re-allocate.
No Single Asset Wins Every Year. Your Portfolio Shouldn't Bet Like It Will.
Stop chasing last year's winner. Get a personalised asset allocation built by SEBI-registered advisors — informed by the 10-year data you just saw. Free portfolio review inside the app.
Free Portfolio ReviewFrequently Asked Questions
CAGR stands for Compound Annual Growth Rate — the steady annualised rate at which an investment grew over a period, assuming returns compound each year. The CAGR formula is: (End Value ÷ Start Value) ^ (1 ÷ Number of Years) − 1. On this dashboard, Gold's 10-year CAGR is 17.3%, meaning a ₹1 lakh gold investment in FY17 would have compounded to roughly ₹4.9 lakh by FY26.
Asset class rankings rotate because macro conditions — interest rates, inflation, earnings cycles and global capital flows — affect each asset differently. Nifty Smallcap 250 was #1 in FY17 with +40.6%, then fell to #11 in FY19 with a –12.4% loss. Gold was #9 in FY19 and #1 in FY26. This rotation is precisely why diversification across asset classes outperforms concentrated single-asset bets over long windows.
Nifty Metal leads all Nifty sector indices at 21.5% 10-year CAGR (FY17–FY26), followed by Nifty IT at 20.8% and Nifty Healthcare at 17.8%. But Metal and IT carry 28.1% and 20.8% annualised volatility — high returns came with sharp drawdowns. For lower volatility, Nifty FMCG at 16.0% volatility was the smoothest sector ride over the decade.
Nifty 50 has delivered a 12.5% 10-year CAGR from FY17 to FY26, calculated on a Total Return Index (TRI) basis with dividends reinvested. That ranks #11 among broad-market asset classes on this dashboard — while the headline Nifty 50 has been stable, Gold (17.3%), Nifty Midcap 150 (17.5%), Nasdaq (21.0%) and the 60/40 blended portfolio (10.9%) all outperformed it on absolute or risk-adjusted terms.
Gold investment returns have delivered a 17.3% 10-year CAGR in INR terms with 14.0% annualised volatility — ranked #3 on returns and #5 on lowest volatility among broad-market asset classes. Gold's standout years — FY20 (+32.5%), FY25 (+32.3%) and FY26 (+58.9%) — drove most of the decade return, confirming gold's classic role as a crisis hedge when equity markets are under pressure.
Among the four blended portfolios tested on this dashboard, 60/40 Nifty 500-Gold has the #1 10-year CAGR (10.9%) with the lowest volatility — the strongest risk-adjusted return. 80/20 and 80/10/10 deliver slightly higher absolute returns but with more swings. Ideal portfolio allocation depends on your horizon, risk appetite and existing portfolio. Novelty Wealth's SEBI-registered advisors build personalised allocations using this framework.
Total Return Index (TRI) measures an index's total return including reinvested dividends. Price return captures only price movement and ignores dividends. Over 10 years, dividends can add 1.5%–2% annually to equity returns — a material difference when compounding. All Nifty figures on this page use TRI for accurate comparison against Gold and Nasdaq, giving the true investor-earned return, not a simplified proxy.
The blended portfolios on this dashboard assume quarterly rebalancing — resetting to target allocation every three months. For most individual investors, annual or threshold-based rebalancing (when any asset drifts 5%+ from target) delivers similar outcomes with lower transaction costs. Rebalancing mechanically forces you to sell high and buy low, which is why it improves long-term risk-adjusted returns versus a buy-and-forget approach.