Passive Investing India on WebNotes

Exchange-Traded Funds in India

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) in India are exchange-listed passive-investment vehicles that track specific indices (equity, debt, commodity) and are traded on Indian stock exchanges (NSE and BSE) like individual stocks. ETFs combine the structural features of index mutual funds (passive tracking of an underlying index) with the operational features of exchange-listed stocks (real-time market pricing, intraday trading, demat-mode holding). The Indian ETF market emerged in 2001 with the launch of Benchmark Mutual Fund’s Nifty BeES (the first Indian ETF) and has grown substantially through the 2010s and 2020s, reflecting global passive-investing trends and increasing Indian retail-investor interest.

Index funds in India

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Index funds in India are passive open-ended mutual funds that replicate a recognised market index by holding its constituent securities in the same weights, regulated by SEBI under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations 1996 . They are the principal passive vehicle in the Indian fund industry alongside exchange-traded funds , aiming to match an index return minus a small expense ratio rather than beat it.

Passive assets in India, index funds plus ETFs, crossed about Rs 14 lakh crore by December 2025, roughly 17 per cent of total mutual fund industry assets, per AMFI monthly data. That share was in the low single digits a decade earlier. The growth tracks three forces: the 2013 arrival of direct plans , which stripped distributor commission out of the expense ratio; rising awareness that most large-cap active funds lag their benchmark net of fees; and a steady fall in index-fund TER to the 0.05 to 0.30 per cent band on direct plans.

Navi Mutual Fund

Sun, 17 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000

Navi Mutual Fund is an Indian asset management company operated by Navi AMC Limited (a wholly-owned subsidiary of Navi Technologies Limited), a fintech firm founded by Sachin Bansal (co-founder of Flipkart) in 2018. Navi MF launched as a SEBI-registered mutual fund in 2021 with a distinctive positioning as a low-cost passive-investing-focused AMC. The AMC’s flagship products are index funds with industry-low expense ratios, designed to compete with traditional Indian AMCs on cost efficiency. Navi MF’s positioning reflects the founder Sachin Bansal’s stated vision of democratising financial services with lower costs and direct retail access.

Anil Ghelani

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

Anil Ghelani is the Head of Passive Investments and Products at DSP Investment Managers Private Limited , the entity operating DSP Mutual Fund. He is one of the more vocal advocates for passive investing and exchange-traded funds (ETFs) within the Indian mutual fund industry, contributing regularly to public discourse on the role of passive strategies, factor investing, and the evolving regulatory and product landscape for index funds and ETFs in India.