Portfolio Concentration: Top-10 Weight and Number of Stocks
Some funds spread their money over a hundred companies; others put half of it into ten. Concentration is how much a fund leans on its largest bets.
By Rithick G · updated 26 October 2026
Two numbers
- Top-10 weight: the share of the portfolio in the ten largest stock holdings. It is the most used measure because it is simple and it captures how much the fund’s result depends on a few calls.
- Number of stocks: how many companies the fund holds. On its own it can mislead: a fund with 80 stocks may still have half its money in the top ten and the rest in a long tail of small positions.
Read them together. A high top-10 weight with few stocks is a concentrated fund by design. A high top-10 weight with many stocks is a fund with strong convictions and a tail. A low top-10 weight is a fund spread wide, which tends to behave more like its benchmark.
The limits SEBI sets
- A scheme generally may not put more than 10% of its assets into the shares of any one company (index funds and sector funds are treated differently).
- A focused fund may hold at most 30 stocks. Every other category has no ceiling on the count.
- The category rules fix where the money must go (large, mid or small caps, one sector), which shapes how concentrated a fund can sensibly be. A small cap fund needs more names to deploy the same money without moving prices.
What is typical
The median fund of each category, from every fund’s latest disclosure. Sectoral and thematic funds are concentrated by mandate, and the “Cash & debt” column is explained in the cash guide.
| Category | Funds | Stocks held | In top 10 | Cash & debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Large Cap | 34 | 52 | 45.5% | 2.1% |
| Large & Mid Cap | 34 | 70 | 31.0% | 3.2% |
| Mid Cap | 33 | 72 | 27.7% | 2.5% |
| Small Cap | 35 | 84 | 26.0% | 5.0% |
| Flexi Cap | 44 | 67 | 34.5% | 3.6% |
| Multi Cap | 33 | 76 | 26.8% | 4.6% |
| ELSS (tax saving) | 47 | 54 | 40.7% | 2.7% |
| Focused | 24 | 29 | 50.5% | 5.1% |
| Value / Contra | 27 | 62 | 38.3% | 4.3% |
| Dividend Yield | 9 | 56 | 36.2% | 2.4% |
| Sectoral / Thematic | 230 | 44 | 46.4% | 3.3% |
Across the 231 diversified funds (every category but sectoral) of ₹1,000 crore or more, the middle half keep between 27.2% and 44.1% in their ten largest holdings.
How to use it
- Compare within a category. A 45% top-10 weight is ordinary for a focused fund and unusual for a small cap fund. Each fund page places the fund against the others in its category on concentration, number of stocks and cash.
- Look at the trend. A fund whose top-10 weight is climbing is making bigger bets; one whose stock count keeps growing may be getting too large for its strategy.
- Look at the names. Ten large holdings in ten different sectors are a different risk from ten banks. The fund page shows the sector split next to the holdings.
Concentration is neither good nor bad. A concentrated fund will differ more from its benchmark, in both directions; a spread-out one will differ less. What matters is that it matches what you expect the fund to be.