Titan Company up 17% vs Kalyan Jewellers 13% -- Two biggest jewellery stocks in a year | How do mutual fund bets differ?

In the 1-year period, Titan Company and Kalyan Jewellers India have delivered returns of 17% and 13%, respectively. However, their mutual fund ownership reflects contrasting investment strategies. Here are the top 5 schemes with the highest exposure to each jewellery stock.

With the festive season kicking in, buyers and investors are keeping a close eye on gold and silver prices. But what about jewellery stocks that are at the heart of this demand?

Two of the biggest listed players in the jewellery segment by market capitalisation are Titan Company and Kalyan Jewellers. These stocks feature in various active, thematic and passive mutual fund portfolios.

According to Screener, Titan Company and Kalyan Jewellers India have delivered one-year returns of around 17% and 13%, respectively, as of 22 October 2026. So, which mutual funds have the highest exposure to these jewellery giants, and what should investors understand about their holdings?

*Source: Value Research, Direct plans, Data as on 30 September 2026

Titan Company features prominently in portfolios tracking specific indices and sectoral or thematic strategies, with the Groww Nifty Non-Cyclical Consumer Index Fund having the highest allocation at 8.23% of net assets.

However, Kalyan Jewellers features more in actively managed schemes, particularly flexi-cap and mid-cap funds, with Motilal Oswal Flexi Cap Fund leading with an allocation of 8.23%.

Among diversified schemes, PGIM India Equity Savings Fund had the highest allocation to Titan at 5.79%, followed by Baroda BNP Paribas Focused Fund at 5.16% and HDFC Large Cap Fund at 5.07%.

Gaurav Garg, Head - Research, Lemonn, said the difference largely comes down to the funds' mandates. Titan, with a market capitalisation of about ₹4 lakh crore, is a heavyweight in the Nifty 50. Consumption, growth-sector and index funds therefore tend to hold the stock, with its weight reflecting benchmark construction.

Kalyan Jewellers, with a market capitalisation of around ₹57,000 crore, features more prominently in actively managed portfolios, where fund managers have greater freedom to select stocks. "One list reflects index construction. The other reflects a stock-picker's choice," he added.

All five of Kalyan's top holders are Motilal Oswal schemes, and Motilal Oswal Midcap alone held about 9% of the company at end-June 2026. Industry-wide, the picture is the opposite. MF ownership of Titan rose from 6.7% to 8.7% between June 2025 and June 2026, he added.

Garg mentioned that most diversified managers get jewellery exposure through Titan and skip the rest of the sector. The reasons are structural. Margins are thin: Kalyan's net margin is about 3.7% and Titan's about 6.2%.

Titan's premium (about 71x trailing earnings against Kalyan's 40x) is the price funds pay for brand strength and studded-jewellery mix, which the rest of the sector struggles to match.

"Titan carries valuation risk while Kalyan carries execution and margin risk at a lower multiple," he added.

Will the festive and wedding season lift these mutual fund returns?

Garg explained that the calendar is favourable for jewellers this year. Navratri, Dhanteras on 6 November and Diwali on 8 November fall in the October-December quarter, whereas last year Navratri fell entirely in the July-September quarter. That timing explains why Titan saw demand soften in late September and why Kalyan's 26% Q2 growth, with 20% same-store sales, came against a tough base.

However, the festive tailwind comes with two caveats. Titan's jewellery business grew about 40% in last year's festive quarter, so the comparison is hard. And with gold prices at roughly ₹1.35 lakh per 10 grams, growth is increasingly being driven by higher bills rather than a comparable increase in buyers. Titan's buyer growth is in mid-single digits while ticket sizes are growing at double digits.

The mutual fund returns depend on the stock's portfolio weight. At an 8% allocation, a 10% movement in the stock would translate into an approximately 0.8 percentage-point change in the portfolio's NAV, he added.

"An investor with a Nifty index fund and a consumption fund already owns Titan twice. An investor with two or three Motilal Oswal equity schemes has the same Kalyan bet repeated at 5-8% weight in each, which concentrates risk instead of spreading it," he mentioned.