Long-Short Equity Fund (SIF)

Tue, 19 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A Long-Short Equity Fund is a Specialised Investment Fund (SIF) sub-category that takes long positions in stocks expected to outperform and short positions (via futures and options) in stocks expected to underperform. Unlike conventional Indian equity mutual funds, which can only take long positions, long-short funds can profit from both rising and falling stock prices and can be net-long, market-neutral, or net-short positioned based on the manager’s view.

For Indian sophisticated retail investors meeting the SIF minimum of Rs 10 lakh, long-short equity funds offer a new strategy category previously available only via PMS or hedge-fund-like AIFs.

Long-Short Equity SIF

Mon, 18 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A Long-Short Equity SIF is a Specialised Investment Fund category permitting both long (buying expected outperformers) and short (selling expected underperformers) equity positions within a mutual-fund-like structure. The category was enabled by SEBI’s 2024 SIF framework , making hedge-fund-style strategies accessible to HNI investors at Rs 10 lakh minimum investment (versus Rs 1 crore minimum for traditional Category III AIFs).

For Indian HNI investors, Long-Short Equity SIFs offer:

Market-neutral or directional flexibility: Long-only constraint removed.
Alpha capture from both sides: Profit from undervalued (long) and overvalued (short) stocks.
Lower drawdowns: Short positions can hedge against market declines.
Higher minimum than MF, lower than AIF: Rs 10 lakh vs Rs 1 crore.

How long-short strategies work

Long-only versus long-short

Traditional mutual funds are long-only: they can only buy stocks expected to appreciate. If the manager identifies an overvalued stock, the only option is not to hold it.

Long-Short Equity on WebNotes

Long-Short Equity Fund (SIF)

Long-Short Equity SIF

How long-short strategies work

Long-only versus long-short