HDFC Medium Term Fund Direct IDCW NAV history

Net asset value: what one unit of the fund is worth, the value of everything the fund holds less what it owes, divided by the units in issue. The fund house works it out after every business day, and buying or selling units is done at the NAV of the day.

Both own the same portfolio, but the regular plan pays a commission to the distributor who sold it, out of its expense ratio, and the direct plan does not. The extra cost is taken from the regular plan's assets every day, so its NAV grows a little slower.

An IDCW plan pays out part of its value to unit holders from time to time, and its NAV falls by the amount paid. The growth plan keeps that money invested, so the two plans' NAVs drift apart and the IDCW plan has no year's return here.

In those years the NAV changed level once without the market moving it, as when units are split, so a high before the change and a low after it would compare two different scales.