New Delhi, Jan. 5 -- Many mutual fund investors rely heavily on the previous year's top performers when choosing funds, taking comfort in recent returns. But an analysis by PGIM India Mutual Fund challenges this approach, highlighting how unreliable recent performance can be for future returns.

The study tracked the top 10 equity mutual funds in 2014 and mapped how their rankings shifted annually through 2025. It also analysed rankings based on three-year returns

The findings illustrate why investors should dig deeper into historical returns, not just stop at funds' recent performance, and why investors must even go beyond returns for their fund selection.

The study does not disclose fund names, instead tracking rank movements over tim...