Nippon India Mutual Fund
Nippon India Mutual Fund is an Indian asset management company , run by Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited (NAM India), a company listed on the National Stock Exchange and the Bombay Stock Exchange , registered with SEBI , and sponsored by Nippon Life Insurance Company of Japan, which held 71.93 per cent of the equity as of 31 March 2026. The fund house reported quarterly average assets under management (QAAUM) of Rs 7,24,965 crore for the January to March 2026 quarter and 394.35 lakh folios as of 31 March 2026, making it one of the largest AMCs in India and the market leader in exchange-traded funds .
The AMC was incorporated on 24 February 1995 and registered with SEBI as a mutual fund (registration MF/022/95/1) on 30 June 1995. It began as Reliance Capital Asset Management Limited under the Reliance ADA Group , grew into one of India’s largest AMCs through the 2000s as Reliance Mutual Fund, and passed to Nippon Life Insurance through staged stake purchases between 2012 and 2019. The schemes were rebranded from Reliance to Nippon India in October 2019, and the company was renamed from Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited to Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited on 13 January 2020. For the Reliance-era entity and its early schemes, see Reliance Mutual Fund (historical) .
Nippon India is the market leader in ETFs by traded volume and runs the BeES family of exchange-traded schemes that it inherited from Benchmark Asset Management Company , the pioneer of Indian ETFs, acquired by Reliance Capital in 2011. Benchmark had launched India’s first equity ETF, Nifty BeES, in 2001 and the first gold ETF , Gold BeES, in 2007. As of June 2026, Nippon India ETF Nifty BeES held about Rs 62,889 crore and Nippon India ETF Gold BeES about Rs 56,755 crore.
This entry covers the fund house’s history from the 2004 Reliance Capital origins through the Benchmark acquisition, the Nippon Life takeover, and the 2019 to 2020 rebranding; its sponsor, trustee, and service-provider structure; the scheme portfolio across ETFs, equity, debt, and hybrid categories with dated AUM figures; the leadership and investment teams; its position as a listed AMC; and how to invest in Nippon India schemes.
History and corporate structure
Reliance Capital Asset Management origins, 2004 to 2011
Reliance Capital Asset Management Limited was incorporated in 2004 as the asset-management subsidiary of Reliance Capital Limited, the financial-services arm of the Reliance ADA Group that Anil Dhirubhai Ambani led after the 2002 to 2005 split of the Reliance group. The AMC launched schemes through the mid-2000s bull market and drew heavy retail inflows into funds such as Reliance Growth Fund and Reliance Vision Fund. By 2008 Reliance Mutual Fund was among India’s five largest AMCs by AUM, built on aggressive marketing, branch expansion, and a large SIP base.
Acquisition of Benchmark AMC, 2011
In 2011 Reliance Capital Asset Management acquired Benchmark Asset Management Company , the firm that launched India’s first equity ETF, Nifty BeES, in 2001 and the first gold ETF, Gold BeES, in 2007. The acquisition folded the entire BeES range, including Junior BeES on the Nifty Next 50 , into the Reliance book and set the foundation for the present ETF leadership. The liquidity that BeES ETFs already commanded in the secondary market transferred with the schemes, an advantage no later entrant has matched.
Nippon Life entry and majority stake, 2012 to 2019
Nippon Life Insurance Company, a Japanese life insurer with large asset-management operations, began buying into Reliance Capital Asset Management in 2012 with a 26 per cent stake for about Rs 1,450 crore, treating it as an entry into the Indian savings market. As the Reliance ADA Group’s financial position weakened through the decade, Nippon Life raised its holding in steps. In 2019 it signed binding agreements to take its stake to 75 per cent, becoming the controlling shareholder. SEBI and the Competition Commission of India cleared the transaction.
Rebranding to Nippon India, 2019 to 2020
After Nippon Life took control, all scheme names changed from “Reliance” to “Nippon India” from October 2019, a switch that required communications to millions of unitholders and updates to every scheme information document. The company itself was renamed from Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management Limited to Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited, with a fresh certificate of incorporation issued on 13 January 2020. The Japanese parent’s backing was marketed as a stability differentiator after the ADA Group’s troubles.
Sundeep Sikka , who had led the fund house through the Reliance era and the Nippon Life transition, continued as Executive Director and CEO. He took a fresh five-year term as Managing Director and CEO from 22 April 2026 and serves as Chairman of AMFI .
Listed-AMC status
NAM India trades on the National Stock Exchange (NAM-INDIA) and the Bombay Stock Exchange (540767), one of a small set of listed AMCs in India alongside HDFC Asset Management and UTI Asset Management . As a listed entity it publishes quarterly results: for the March 2026 quarter it reported consolidated total income of Rs 705.20 crore, up 19.6 per cent year on year, and net profit of Rs 384.72 crore, up 28.8 per cent. The listing makes its financials a public reference point for the profitability and operating leverage of the Indian AMC model.
Sponsor, trustee, and service providers
The sponsor and promoter is Nippon Life Insurance Company of Japan, which held 71.93 per cent of NAM India as of 31 March 2026; the rest is held by foreign institutional, domestic institutional, and public shareholders. The trustee is Nippon Life India Trustee Limited, formerly Reliance Capital Trustee Company Limited, which holds the schemes’ assets in trust for unitholders under the mutual fund trust structure and supervises the AMC. The board carries directors nominated by Nippon Life alongside independent directors required under the SEBI Mutual Funds Regulations 1996 . The registered office is at One Lodha Place, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai.
The principal service providers are:
- Registrar and Transfer Agent: KFin Technologies Limited, formerly Karvy Fintech, which handles investor servicing, transaction processing, and KYC.
- Custodian: Deutsche Bank AG, India branch.
- Depositories: NSDL and CDSL .
Investors can service folios through KFin’s portals and the industry utility MF Central .
Scheme portfolio
Nippon India runs schemes across the SEBI categories, with a clear lead in passive products. The table below lists flagship schemes with AUM dated to June 2026 from scheme factsheet data, ordered by size.
| Scheme | Category | AUM (June 2026) | Fund manager |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nippon India Small Cap Fund | Small cap | Rs 74,581 crore | Equity team |
| Nippon India ETF Nifty BeES | Passive (large-cap ETF) | Rs 62,889 crore | Himanshu Mange |
| Nippon India ETF Gold BeES | Passive (gold ETF) | Rs 56,755 crore | Vikram Dhawan |
| Nippon India Growth Fund | Mid cap | Rs 45,820 crore | Rupesh Patel |
| Nippon India Large Cap Fund | Large cap | Disclosed in factsheet | Sailesh Raj Bhan |
| Nippon India Flexi Cap Fund | Flexi cap | Disclosed in factsheet | Equity team |
| Nippon India Multi Cap Fund | Multi cap | Disclosed in factsheet | Sailesh Raj Bhan |
| Nippon India Value Fund | Value | Disclosed in factsheet | Equity team |
| Nippon India Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund | ELSS | Disclosed in factsheet | Equity team |
| Nippon India Arbitrage Fund | Arbitrage | Disclosed in factsheet | Hybrid team |
ETF and passive franchise
Nippon India is the market leader in ETFs by traded volume on Indian exchanges. The core holdings:
- Nippon India ETF Nifty BeES, India’s first equity ETF, launched on 28 December 2001 by Benchmark AMC, held about Rs 62,889 crore as of June 2026 at a total expense ratio of 0.03 per cent. It remains the most actively traded equity ETF on the National Stock Exchange .
- Nippon India ETF Gold BeES, India’s first gold ETF , launched on 8 March 2007, held about Rs 56,755 crore as of June 2026, the largest gold ETF in the country, backed by physical gold.
- Nippon India ETF Junior BeES tracks the Nifty Next 50 and is among the most liquid ETFs in India.
- Nippon India ETF Nifty Bank BeES and Nippon India ETF PSU Bank BeES give sectoral exposure with active secondary-market trading.
- Nippon India Index Fund, Nifty 50 Plan and Nippon India Nifty Smallcap 250 Index Fund give the index fund route for investors who prefer the fund wrapper over the exchange route.
The franchise reflects the broader passive investing wave in India and the first-mover advantage from the Benchmark acquisition.
Equity schemes
- Nippon India Small Cap Fund is the largest small-cap mutual fund in India by AUM, about Rs 74,581 crore as of mid-2026, up from Rs 15,353 crore in June 2021. The fund restricted lump-sum subscriptions from 7 July 2023 to manage the impact cost of deploying capital at that scale.
- Nippon India Growth Fund, the Nippon India Growth Mid Cap Fund, launched on 8 October 1995, is one of India’s oldest equity schemes and held about Rs 45,820 crore as of mid-2026, having completed 30 years in 2025.
- Nippon India Large Cap Fund, Nippon India Flexi Cap Fund, Nippon India Multi Cap Fund, and Nippon India Value Fund cover the large-cap, flexi-cap, multi-cap, and value mandates.
- Nippon India Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund is a long-established ELSS scheme offering a Section 80C deduction with a three-year lock-in.
Debt and hybrid schemes
The debt range covers liquid, overnight, short-duration, medium-duration, corporate bond, credit risk, and dynamic bond categories, and is a large part of NAM India’s AUM through corporate-treasury and institutional balances. The hybrid range includes Nippon India Balanced Advantage Fund (dynamic asset allocation), Nippon India Hybrid Equity Fund (aggressive hybrid, 65 to 80 per cent equity), and Nippon India Arbitrage Fund, a large arbitrage fund that exploits cash-futures pricing differentials and is treated as equity-oriented for tax.
Assets under management and financials
Nippon India’s QAAUM has grown sharply through the post-2020 retail and ETF expansion. The fund house reported QAAUM of Rs 7,24,965 crore for the January to March 2026 quarter, against Rs 5.70 lakh crore in the same quarter of 2025 and Rs 4.3 lakh crore in the quarter to March 2024, with 394.35 lakh folios as of 31 March 2026. The table tracks the recent path; figures are QAAUM for the period stated.
| Quarter | QAAUM | Folios |
|---|---|---|
| Jan to Mar 2024 | About Rs 4.3 lakh crore | Disclosed in results |
| Jan to Mar 2025 | About Rs 5.70 lakh crore | Disclosed in results |
| Jan to Mar 2026 | Rs 7,24,965 crore | 394.35 lakh |
As a listed company, NAM India publishes the financial detail that unlisted AMCs do not. For the March 2026 quarter it reported consolidated total income of Rs 705.20 crore, up 19.6 per cent year on year, and net profit of Rs 384.72 crore, up 28.8 per cent. The AMC model carries high operating leverage: revenue scales with AUM while the cost base, mostly people and technology, grows more slowly, so margins widen as assets rise. This is why analysts benchmark NAM India alongside HDFC Asset Management as a public proxy for Indian AMC profitability.
ETF leadership in detail
The ETF business is where Nippon India holds the clearest lead. Its ETF trading volumes run many times the industry average across categories, a liquidity advantage that traces directly to the Benchmark AMC acquisition: the BeES schemes were already the reference ETFs for Indian equity exposure when Reliance Capital bought them in 2011, and that liquidity compounds, since traders route to the most liquid instrument. Within gold, the Gold BeES AUM grew from about Rs 7,800 crore in the first quarter of FY24 to about Rs 53,300 crore by the fourth quarter of FY26, on the back of higher gold prices and retail demand for gold ETFs . The combined effect is that Nippon India runs the single largest gold ETF and one of the two largest equity ETFs in the country, alongside the SBI Nifty 50 ETF .
Investment approach and team
Nippon India’s active equity process is fundamental and research-driven, with sector specialists covering assigned industries and feeding a central stock-evaluation framework. For passive products the focus is tight tracking-error control, securities lending, and cost minimisation, where the BeES brand’s secondary-market liquidity is the competitive edge.
Sailesh Raj Bhan is the Chief Investment Officer for Equity, appointed to replace Manish Gunwani; he has managed Nippon India Large Cap Fund, Nippon India Multi Cap Fund, and Nippon India Pharma Fund for over 15 years. Amit Tripathi is the Chief Investment Officer for Fixed Income, with more than 20 years in financial services and 14 years at the fund house. Sundeep Sikka is Managing Director and CEO, leading the AMC since the Reliance era and through the Nippon Life transition, on a fresh five-year term from 22 April 2026.
Distribution and operations
Nippon India distributes primarily through independent financial advisers and national distributors, since it has no captive sponsor-bank channel of the kind that SBI Mutual Fund , HDFC Mutual Fund , and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund draw on. The absence of a bank channel was once viewed as a disadvantage, but the fund house built an early digital-distribution and direct-plan base around the ETF and online-investing community. The RTA, KFin Technologies , runs investor servicing and transaction processing. Platforms including Zerodha Coin , Groww , Kuvera , and ET Money feature Nippon India ETFs and index funds as recommended low-cost passive options.
How to invest in Nippon India Mutual Fund schemes
Investors can buy Nippon India schemes once their mutual fund KYC is complete, which can be done online with an Aadhaar OTP. The choice between a direct plan and a regular plan affects cost: the direct plan carries a lower total expense ratio because it excludes distributor commission. ETFs trade on the exchange and need a demat and trading account; open-ended schemes do not.
- Direct from the AMC: open an account at mf.nipponindiaim.com and invest in direct plans.
- On a platform: buy direct plans on Zerodha Coin , Groww , Kuvera , ET Money , or INDmoney . The first-purchase flow on Coin sets out the steps.
- ETFs on the exchange: buy BeES ETFs through any broker with a demat account; the first mutual fund purchase guide and the ETF reference explain the difference from open-ended schemes.
- As a SIP or lump sum: a systematic investment plan automates a fixed monthly investment at the applicable NAV .
Mutual fund investments are subject to market risk, and past performance does not indicate future returns. Match the scheme category to the goal and the time horizon.
Capacity and structural debates
Three structural questions recur around Nippon India, each tied to a specific number.
The first is small-cap capacity. Nippon India Small Cap Fund, at about Rs 74,581 crore as of mid-2026, is the largest small-cap fund in India, and its size raises an impact-cost problem: deploying even 1 per cent of the corpus into a single stock means roughly Rs 745 crore, which for a company with a Rs 5,000 crore market value would be a 15 per cent stake, hard to buy in the open market without moving the price. The fund house restricted lump-sum subscriptions from 7 July 2023 in part to manage this. The counter is that the fund’s long record predates the restriction and that the manager spreads across a wide holding list to dilute single-name impact.
The second is distribution. Unlike SBI Mutual Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund , Nippon India has no captive sponsor-bank branch network to push schemes through, which historically slowed retail gathering in smaller towns. The fund house offset this by building a direct-plan and ETF base early, and the ETF franchise does not depend on a bank channel at all, since ETFs trade on the exchange.
The third is reliance on a few large schemes. The ETF book, led by Nifty BeES and Gold BeES, and the small-cap fund together make up a large share of equity AUM, so the fund house’s growth is tied to passive flows and small-cap sentiment more than a fully diversified active book would be. The listed financials make this concentration visible to analysts in a way that unlisted peers avoid.
Regulatory standing and investor service
Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited holds a valid SEBI registration as an AMC under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996. The transition from Reliance Capital sponsorship to Nippon Life was cleared by SEBI, and all schemes were mapped to the categories set by the SEBI scheme rationalisation circular of October 2017 . Investor complaints that the AMC does not resolve can be escalated through the SEBI SCORES portal, and the investor grievance escalation matrix sets out the steps. Tax on redemptions follows the capital gains tax rules for India , and gains and dividends appear in the investor’s Annual Information Statement .
Comparison with peer AMCs
Nippon India sits among the largest fund houses but well behind the bank-sponsored leaders on total AUM. As of the latest disclosed quarters, SBI Mutual Fund led at QAAUM of Rs 12.50 lakh crore (December 2025), ahead of ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and HDFC Mutual Fund , while Nippon India’s Rs 7.25 lakh crore (March 2026 quarter) placed it in the next tier alongside Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund and Axis Mutual Fund . The gap reflects the distribution difference: the three largest all draw on captive bank branch networks, whereas Nippon India and the boutique houses such as PPFAS Mutual Fund gather through advisers, platforms, and direct flows.
Where Nippon India leads outright is passive trading. In ETFs it competes with the SBI passive book on AUM but exceeds every peer on secondary-market liquidity, the metric that matters most to traders and institutions placing large orders. That liquidity edge, inherited from Benchmark AMC and compounded over two decades, is harder for a rival to replicate than AUM, since it depends on the order flow already concentrated in the BeES schemes.
Notable events
- 2001: Benchmark AMC launches Nifty BeES, India’s first equity ETF.
- 2004: Reliance Capital Asset Management Limited incorporated.
- 2007: Gold BeES, India’s first gold ETF, launched by Benchmark AMC.
- 2011: Reliance Capital Asset Management acquires Benchmark AMC, consolidating ETF leadership.
- 2012: Nippon Life Insurance acquires a 26 per cent stake in Reliance Capital AMC.
- 2017 to 2019: Nippon Life raises its stake to majority control of 75 per cent.
- October 2019: Schemes rebranded from Reliance to Nippon India.
- 13 January 2020: Company renamed Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited.
- 7 July 2023: Nippon India Small Cap Fund restricts lump-sum subscriptions.
- 22 April 2026: Sundeep Sikka begins a fresh five-year term as MD and CEO.
- March 2026 quarter: QAAUM Rs 7,24,965 crore; 394.35 lakh folios; net profit Rs 384.72 crore.
See also
- Mutual fund industry in India
- Mutual funds in India
- Reliance Mutual Fund (historical)
- Reliance Capital
- Nippon Life Insurance
- Benchmark Asset Management Company
- SBI Mutual Fund
- HDFC Mutual Fund
- ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund
- UTI Mutual Fund
- Axis Mutual Fund
- Kotak Mahindra Mutual Fund
- Mirae Asset Mutual Fund
- DSP Mutual Fund
- Franklin Templeton India Mutual Fund
- Quant Mutual Fund
- Quantum Mutual Fund
- PPFAS Mutual Fund
- Zerodha Mutual Fund
- Nippon India Small Cap Fund
- Nippon India Growth Fund
- Nippon India ETF Nifty BeES
- Sundeep Sikka
- Sailesh Raj Bhan
- Nifty 50
- Gold ETF in India
- ETF in India
- Index fund in India
- Passive investing wave in India
- Mutual fund trust structure
- Mutual fund custodian
- Mutual fund RTA
- Total expense ratio
- NAV
- Mutual fund NAV
- SIP
- SIP mutual fund India
- ELSS mutual fund India
- Arbitrage mutual fund India
- Direct plan vs regular plan
- Direct plan adoption in India
- How to buy your first mutual fund on Coin
- How to complete MF KYC with Aadhaar OTP
- Zerodha Coin
- Groww
- Kuvera
- ET Money
- INDmoney
- Angel One MF
- MF Utility
- KFin Technologies
- MF Central
- SEBI
- SEBI Investment Management Department
- SEBI Mutual Funds Regulations 1996
- SEBI scheme rationalisation circular 2017
- SEBI SCORES
- Investor grievance escalation matrix
- NSDL
- CDSL
- National Stock Exchange
- Bombay Stock Exchange
- Capital gains tax in India
- Annual Information Statement
- Permanent Account Number
External references
- Nippon India Mutual Fund official website
- Nippon India Mutual Fund corporate site
- Nippon India ETF site
- AMFI mutual fund disclosures
- SEBI mutual fund disclosures
- National Stock Exchange of India
- BSE Limited
References
- Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited, company profile and SEBI registration MF/022/95/1 dated 30 June 1995. Available at mf.nipponindiaim.com and sebi.gov.in.
- Nippon Life India Asset Management Limited, Annual Report 2024-2025, and Q4 FY2026 results (consolidated total income Rs 705.20 crore, net profit Rs 384.72 crore, March 2026 quarter; promoter holding 71.93 per cent as of 31 March 2026).
- AMFI, AMC-wise quarterly average assets under management, quarter ending March 2026 (QAAUM Rs 7,24,965 crore; 394.35 lakh folios). Association of Mutual Funds in India, amfiindia.com.
- Nippon India Mutual Fund, scheme factsheets, June 2026 (scheme-level AUM for Nippon India Small Cap Fund, Nippon India ETF Nifty BeES, Nippon India ETF Gold BeES, and Nippon India Growth Fund). Available at mf.nipponindiaim.com.
- “Nippon Life completes majority acquisition of Reliance Capital AMC.” Business Standard, July 2019.
- “Reliance Mutual Fund rebranded as Nippon India Mutual Fund.” The Economic Times, October 2019.
- Benchmark AMC acquisition by Reliance Capital Asset Management, company press release, 2011.