Money Market on WebNotes

Money market mutual fund

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

A money market mutual fund is a SEBI-categorised debt mutual fund scheme that invests in money-market instruments with maturity up to one year. The category was defined under the SEBI October 2017 categorisation framework as one of the 16 debt scheme sub-categories. Money market funds provide ultra-short-term debt exposure with very low interest-rate sensitivity, making them suitable for cash-management roles in retail and institutional portfolios.

For Indian retail investors, money market funds offer:

CRISIL Liquid Fund Index

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The CRISIL Liquid Fund Index is a money market benchmark published by CRISIL Research (a division of CRISIL Limited, majority-owned by S&P Global) that represents the return profile of a portfolio of investment-grade money market instruments with residual maturities up to 91 days. As the standard performance benchmark for liquid mutual fund schemes in India, it is the reference index for the single largest category of debt mutual fund by assets under management, tracking instruments that are the closest domestic equivalent to cash.

How to buy a T-Bill on Zerodha

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

This guide explains how to buy Treasury Bills (T-Bills) through Zerodha’s Kite platform. T-Bills are short-duration sovereign instruments issued by the Government of India and managed by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) . They are zero-coupon instruments: there is no periodic interest payment; instead, the government issues them at a discount to face value and redeems them at face value on the maturity date. The difference between the purchase price and Rs 25,000 constitutes the investor’s return.

IL&FS default impact on debt funds (2018)

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The IL&FS default of September 2018 marked the most consequential single credit event in the Indian debt mutual fund market in the decade preceding the COVID-19 crisis. When Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services Limited (IL&FS) and its subsidiaries began defaulting on short-term commercial paper and non-convertible debenture obligations in September 2018, mutual funds holding these instruments suffered immediate net asset value (NAV) write-downs, interbank and capital market credit flowed sharply away from non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), and the Securities and Exchange Board of India was compelled to introduce a suite of emergency and structural regulatory measures. The episode revealed deep weaknesses in credit risk assessment, concentration management, and valuation practices within Indian fixed-income mutual funds and accelerated reforms that reshaped the industry for years.

Liquid mutual fund

Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

A liquid mutual fund in India is an open-ended debt scheme that invests exclusively in debt and money-market instruments with a residual maturity of up to 91 days. Under SEBI ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular, the liquid fund category is defined by this 91-day maximum maturity constraint, which limits the interest-rate risk and credit-duration risk of the portfolio while preserving daily net asset value (NAV) liquidity for investors. Liquid funds are among the most widely used short-term parking instruments in India, employed by retail investors for emergency funds, by corporates for treasury management, and by high-net-worth individuals as an alternative to savings bank accounts for idle cash.

T-Bills on Zerodha

Mon, 11 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Treasury Bills (T-Bills) are short-term Government Securities issued by the Government of India through the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) with maturities of 91 days, 182 days, and 364 days. They are zero-coupon instruments: issued at a discount to face value and redeemed at face value (Rs 100 per unit) at maturity. The discount represents the investor’s return. T-Bills carry sovereign guarantee and zero credit risk. Zerodha provides access to T-Bills through the exchange-traded debt market on Kite and directs investors to the RBI Retail Direct portal for primary auction participation.