It is very often said that Mutual Funds have performed badly. Please explain?

The performance of Mutual Funds is evaluated on the basis of absolute increase or decrease in its Net Asset Value (NAV). However a fund's performance should be evaluated on the basis of a comparison with the relevant indices and alternative instruments. The NAV varies from fund to fund. Therefore this argument is not entirely true. However some funds have performed poorly with their NAV quoting well below their original IPO price.