DSP Healthcare Fund for Better Growth Invest Now

The DSP healthcare fund is an open-ended equity fund which primarily invests in businesses and organizations associated with the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

What Is the DSP Healthcare Fund?

The DSP healthcare fund is a sectoral equity mutual fund that specializes mainly in the pharmaceutical and healthcare sector.

Understanding the Investment Objective

The primary focus of the fund would be to create regular earnings primarily from the equity and equity-related securities of pharmaceutical and healthcare firms.

How the Fund Invests

The fund provides an investment in companies in the healthcare industry. This may encompass medicine and pharmaceutical businesses, pharmaceutical research facilities, hospitals, diagnostics, health care services, medical gadgets, and so on.

According to DSP Mutual Fund the portfolio has 9.2% exposure to the global market and 87.9% exposure to the Indian market as of August 31, 2026. Large cap, mid cap and small cap were also a part of the portfolio allocation.

Healthcare and Pharmaceutical Exposure

Healthcare is a wide-ranging sector. This doesn’t just apply to tablets and medicines.

Some examples include pharmaceutical companies, providing new and innovative medicines, hospitals, delivering medical care, diagnostic companies, testing, and medical service providers, helping patients and medical practitioners.

Thus, the fund can be part of multiple aspects of this ecosystem instead of all being a part of one particular healthcare business.

Key Highlights of the DSP Healthcare Fund

According to the latest data provided by DSP Mutual Fund, the total asset under management (AUM) of the DSP healthcare fund amounted to around ₹3,835.28 crore, as of August 31, 2026. At the time the scheme was approximately 7 years and 9 months old.

The following are some of the highlights:

• Fund category: Equity – Sectoral
• Theme: Healthcare and pharmaceuticals
• Benchmark: BSE Healthcare TRI
• Date of allotment: November 30, 2018
• Risk level: Very High
• Suggested investment horizon: 10 years or more
• Minimum lump-sum investment: ₹100
• Minimum SIP investment: ₹100 for 12 installments
• Exit load: 0.5% if redeemed between 0 and 1 month

Fund Category and Benchmark

The scheme is in Equity Sectoral and it’s targeted at the health care and pharmaceutical industry.

The fund has adopted the BSE Healthcare TRI as the benchmark. A benchmark provides a benchmark for how the scheme has performed against the rest of the healthcare market the benchmark represents.

But just looking at returns is not the only measure. There are also a number of factors related to risk, portfolio composition, costs, investment time frames and what the fund fits into your overall portfolio.

Fund Inception and AUM

The date of allotment of the fund was on 30th November 2018. Its AUM stood at approximately ₹3,835.28 crore as of August 31, 2026.

The AUM of a fund may fluctuate daily due to investors’ purchases and redemptions and the daily price changes of the securities in the fund. Hence, AUM should be considered as a snapshot measurement and not a scheme’s permanent attribute.

Minimum Investment

DSP Mutual Fund currently sets the minimum investment at ₹100 for a lump-sum investment and ₹100 for a 12-month SIP investment. There is also a minimum extra purchase of ₹100.

Low minimum investment allows for a fairly small investment. However, don’t be tempted to invest because it starts off at a low entry level. Your level of investment should still be in keeping with your investment objectives, cash flow and risk tolerance.

DSP Healthcare Fund Direct Growth

The Direct Plan Growth option of the scheme is a keyword scheme in DSP healthcare fund direct growth.

Please be aware this is not the Regular Plan Growth option.

While the investment objective and underlying scheme may be the same, there are distinctions in the expense structure between Regular Plans and Direct Plans. According to the latest scheme details provided by DSP, the total expense ratio of Regular Plan as of 11th September 2026 is 2.05% whereas the total expense ratio of Direct Plan as of 10th September 2026 is 0.75%.

Regular Plan vs Direct Plan

The principle difference is how investors join the scheme.

Typically, distributors or brokers sell Regular Plans, while investors buy Direct Plans directly from the mutual fund without a distributor.

However, the NAV and long term results are different between the two plans due to the varying expense structures of the plans.

This article will just stick to the DSP healthcare fund Regular Plan Growth option. The DSP healthcare fund direct growth option is mentioned to enlighten the readers about the difference not to make both the growth options as the same.

Understanding Expense Ratios

An expense ratio is a ratio that shows how much it will cost to run and manage the mutual fund scheme.

According to its latest official information, the total expense ratio of the Regular Plan is 2.05% effective 09/11/26. The 0.75% is as listed on the corresponding Direct Plan page on September 10, 2026. The above figures are subject to change and investors are advised to always refer to the most up to date disclosure before investing.

What is the significance of this?

Likewise, costs can impact the return realized by the investor overtime.

Taxation of the DSP Healthcare Fund

The DSP healthcare fund comes under the taxation regime for equity oriented mutual funds.

DSP’s latest scheme details say equity funds will have different capital gains tax treatment based on the period of holding for redemptions or transfers from these funds from April 1, 2025 onwards. As per the list of tax rates published by DSP, the long-term capital gains tax rate is 12.5% on investments held for over 12 months and 20% on those held for less than 12 months, both rates are subject to the applicable tax rates, exemptions, cess and surcharge.

Conclusion

The focused exposure of the DSP healthcare fund to India’s healthcare and pharmaceutical ecosystem, as well as an option to invest in selected international healthcare opportunities, is a special feature.

The Regular and Direct options are not the same plan and investors should not view them as such that DSP healthcare fund direct growth due to the difference in the expense ratio.

FAQs

1.  Is DSP Healthcare Fund a sectoral mutual fund?

Ans) Yes. The DSP healthcare fund is Equity Sectoral scheme that is dedicated to the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector. Its benchmark is the BSE Healthcare TRI.

2. What is the minimum investment in DSP Healthcare Fund?

Ans) As per the current information provided by the DSP, the minimum amount invested in a lump sum investment is ₹100 and for SIP, it is ₹100 and the number of investment periods is 12. There is a minimum additional purchase of only ₹100.

3. What is the difference between DSP Healthcare Fund Regular Growth and Direct Growth?

Ans) Both are part of the same scheme, but the expense of the Regular and Direct Plans is different. Often the Regular Plan includes distributor costs, and the Direct Plan doesn’t include distributor commissions. As of the date of this writing, the expense ratio for each plan varies by plan, according to DSP’s information.

4. Is DSP Healthcare Fund suitable for short-term investment?

Ans) This fund is deemed to have a long-term investment time horizon (10 years or more) and is considered Very High Risk. So, it’s important to be aware of the possible high volatility of these shares before investing.

5. Can investors use SIPs to invest in DSP Healthcare Fund?

Ans) Yes. Please note that DSP’s minimum SIP contribution is ₹100 in 12 installments. While a SIP can assist investors to invest systematically, it will not remove the market risk and provide guarantees.