SEBI Categorisation on WebNotes

SEBI Categorisation on WebNoteshttps://v2.webnotes.in/tags/sebi-categorisation/Recent content in SEBI Categorisation on WebNotesHugoen-INSat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000Flexi Cap mutual fund in Indiahttps://v2.webnotes.in/flexi-cap-mutual-fund-india/Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/flexi-cap-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>Flexi Cap mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended actively managed equity scheme that invests a minimum of 65 per cent of total assets in equity and equity-related instruments across the full market-capitalisation spectrum, with <strong>no mandatory minimum allocation to any individual market-cap segment</strong> (large-cap, mid-cap, or small-cap). The category was introduced by <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> through Circular SEBI/HO/IMD/DF3/CIR/P/2020/228 dated 6 November 2020, as a direct response to industry concerns following the September 2020 <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-multi-cap-reclassification-2020/">multi-cap reclassification</a> that had mandated a 25-25-25 large-mid-small allocation for the <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/multi-cap-mutual-fund-india/">Multi Cap Fund</a> category. The Flexi Cap category was created to preserve the structural flexibility that the pre-September-2020 Multi Cap framework had provided, allowing AMCs to maintain genuinely market-cap-flexible equity funds without the new Multi Cap allocation constraints.</p>Aggressive hybrid mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/aggressive-hybrid-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/aggressive-hybrid-mutual-fund/<p>An <strong>aggressive hybrid mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended hybrid scheme that must invest between 65% and 80% of its total assets in equity and equity-related instruments and between 20% and 35% in debt instruments, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. This category corresponds to what was historically marketed as “balanced funds” in India before SEBI’s rationalisation. The equity allocation of 65% to 80% qualifies aggressive hybrid funds for equity-oriented taxation, making them more tax-efficient than purely debt-oriented or conservative hybrid funds. Each AMC may offer only one aggressive hybrid fund.</p>Arbitrage mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/arbitrage-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/arbitrage-mutual-fund-india/<p>An <strong>arbitrage mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended hybrid scheme that generates returns primarily by exploiting the price difference between the cash (spot) market and the futures market for the same equity security. The strategy involves simultaneously buying a stock in the cash market and selling an equivalent futures contract on the same stock at a higher price (the futures premium). The spread between the cash price and the futures price, captured at the time of trade, represents a near risk-free return that is crystallised when the futures contract expires and the prices converge.</p>Balanced advantage fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/balanced-advantage-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/balanced-advantage-fund-india/<p>A <strong>balanced advantage fund</strong> (BAF) – formally categorised by <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> as a <strong>dynamic asset allocation fund</strong> – is an open-ended hybrid scheme that dynamically manages the allocation between equity and debt instruments based on market conditions, valuation models, or other quantitative triggers, with no regulatory floor or ceiling on equity allocation. SEBI’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular merged this category with the earlier “balanced advantage” label under the single heading “Dynamic Asset Allocation or Balanced Advantage”. Balanced advantage funds are among the largest hybrid fund categories by AUM in India, with several schemes managing over ₹50,000 crore each.</p>Conservative hybrid mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/conservative-hybrid-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/conservative-hybrid-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>conservative hybrid mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended hybrid scheme that must invest between 75% and 90% of its total assets in debt instruments and between 10% and 25% in equity and equity-related instruments, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. The category is designed for investors who primarily seek income and capital preservation with a modest equity participation for inflation-beating returns. Because equity constitutes less than 65% of the portfolio, conservative hybrid funds are classified as debt-oriented funds for tax purposes.</p>Contra mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/contra-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/contra-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>contra mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that must follow a contrarian investment strategy – investing in stocks and sectors that are currently out of favour with the broader market, on the thesis that the market has over-discounted bad news and that mean reversion will generate superior returns. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular defined contra funds as a distinct category, requiring each AMC that wishes to offer either a contrarian strategy or a value strategy to choose one: an AMC may not operate both a value fund and a contra fund simultaneously.</p>Corporate bond mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/corporate-bond-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/corporate-bond-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>corporate bond mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended debt scheme that must invest a minimum of 80% of its total assets in the highest-rated corporate bonds – specifically AA+ and above rated corporate debt instruments – under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. This mandatory quality screen restricts corporate bond funds to investment-grade, near-sovereign-quality corporate paper, limiting credit risk while exposing investors to the yield spread that high-rated corporations offer above government securities.</p>Credit risk mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/credit-risk-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/credit-risk-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>credit risk mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended debt scheme that must invest a minimum of 65% of its total assets in below-AA-rated corporate bonds (specifically AA-rated and below, including A, BBB, and sub-investment-grade instruments), under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. These funds aim to generate higher yields than investment-grade debt funds by taking on credit risk – the risk that the issuing company may default on interest payments or principal repayment. Credit risk funds are the highest-risk category within the debt mutual fund universe and have faced significant investor confidence issues following a series of credit events in 2019 to 2020.</p>Dividend-yield mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/dividend-yield-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/dividend-yield-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>dividend-yield mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that must invest a minimum of 65% of its total assets in high-dividend-yield stocks – equities of companies that pay dividends at a yield materially above the market average. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular created this category to distinguish income-oriented equity strategies from growth or value strategies. The underlying premise is that companies paying consistent, high dividends are typically mature, cash-generative businesses with strong balance sheets, providing investors a combination of income and lower downside risk than high-growth, low-dividend companies.</p>Dynamic bond mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/dynamic-bond-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/dynamic-bond-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>dynamic bond mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended debt scheme that may invest across any duration (from short-term money-market instruments to 30+ year government bonds) and across any credit quality (from AAA government securities to lower-rated corporate bonds), with the fund manager actively adjusting the portfolio composition based on the prevailing interest rate environment, yield curve shape, and credit outlook. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular placed dynamic bond funds in the debt category with no mandatory duration or credit quality constraints, giving fund managers maximum flexibility.</p>ELSS mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/elss-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/elss-mutual-fund-india/<p>An <strong>Equity Linked Savings Scheme</strong> (ELSS) is a category of open-ended equity mutual fund in India that qualifies for a deduction under Section 80C of the Income Tax Act, 1961, allowing investors to claim a deduction of up to ₹1.5 lakh per financial year from their gross total income, subject to conditions. ELSS funds are the only equity mutual fund category in India that offers a tax deduction on the invested amount. They carry a mandatory lock-in period of three years from the date of each investment unit, which is the shortest lock-in period among all Section 80C instruments.</p>Equity ETF in Indiahttps://v2.webnotes.in/equity-etf-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/equity-etf-india/<p>An <strong>equity exchange-traded fund</strong> (equity ETF) in India is a passively managed open-ended fund that tracks a specific equity index (such as the NIFTY 50, SENSEX, NIFTY Bank, or NIFTY Midcap 150), with its units listed and traded continuously on a stock exchange (NSE or BSE) during market hours. Unlike a conventional open-ended mutual fund (in which units are purchased and redeemed at the end-of-day NAV), equity ETF units trade intraday on the exchange at market prices that approximate the fund’s NAV, enabling real-time entry and exit.</p>Equity savings mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/equity-savings-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/equity-savings-mutual-fund/<p>An <strong>equity savings mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended hybrid scheme that combines three sources of return: unhedged equity (directional equity exposure), equity arbitrage (market-neutral hedged equity positions), and debt instruments. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular defines the category by requiring a minimum 65% total equity allocation (which includes both unhedged and arbitrage equity), a minimum 10% in debt, and a minimum 10% in unhedged equity. Because total equity (unhedged plus arbitrage) is at least 65%, equity savings funds qualify for equity-oriented taxation, making them more tax-efficient than debt-oriented hybrid categories such as <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/conservative-hybrid-mutual-fund/">conservative hybrid funds</a> .</p>Focused equity mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/focused-equity-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/focused-equity-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>focused equity mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that invests in a concentrated portfolio of a maximum of 30 stocks, with a minimum of 65% of its total assets in equity and equity-related instruments. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular created this category to distinguish high-conviction, concentrated equity portfolios from broadly diversified equity funds. Unlike <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/large-cap-mutual-fund-india/">large-cap</a> , <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/mid-cap-mutual-fund-india/">mid-cap</a> , or <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/flexi-cap-mutual-fund-india/">flexi-cap funds</a> , focused funds have no mandatory market-cap allocation; the 30 stocks may be spread across large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap at the fund manager’s discretion.</p>Gilt mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/gilt-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/gilt-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>gilt mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended debt scheme that invests a minimum of 80% of its total assets in government securities (G-Secs) across maturities, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. The term “gilt” is borrowed from the British market, where government bonds were historically printed on gilt-edged paper. In India, gilt funds hold predominantly Central Government Securities (CG-Secs) and, to a lesser extent, State Development Loans (SDLs). Gilt funds carry zero credit risk (sovereign backing) but carry high interest rate risk due to the long average maturity of government securities portfolios.</p>Gold ETF in Indiahttps://v2.webnotes.in/gold-etf-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/gold-etf-india/<p>A <strong>Gold ETF</strong> (Gold Exchange-Traded Fund) in India is an open-ended fund that is listed and traded on a stock exchange, where each unit represents ownership of a defined quantity of physical gold (typically 0.01 gram or 1 gram of gold of 99.5% or 99.9% purity). The fund’s assets are invested in physical gold held in a custodian-approved vault, and the NAV of each unit tracks the domestic gold price. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> regulates gold ETFs under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, and has issued specific guidelines on gold ETF structure, custodianship, and audit requirements.</p>Large-and-midcap mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/large-and-midcap-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/large-and-midcap-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>large-and-midcap mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that must invest a minimum of 35% of its total assets in large-cap stocks (top 100 companies by AMFI ranking) and a minimum of 35% in mid-cap stocks (101st to 250th companies by AMFI ranking), under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. This dual minimum mandate creates a structurally blended exposure that provides the stability of large-cap companies alongside the higher growth potential of mid-cap companies.</p>Large-cap mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/large-cap-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/large-cap-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>large-cap mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that is required, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular, to invest a minimum of 80% of its total assets in equity and equity-related instruments of large-cap companies. SEBI defines large-cap companies as the top 100 companies listed on a recognised stock exchange, ranked by full market capitalisation, as published by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) every six months. The category exists to give investors a clearly defined, low-ambiguity route to owning the largest, most liquid, and most widely followed Indian companies through a regulated pooled vehicle.</p>Liquid mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/liquid-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/liquid-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>liquid mutual fund</strong> 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 <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’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.</p>Mid-cap mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/mid-cap-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/mid-cap-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>mid-cap mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that must, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular, invest a minimum of 65% of its total assets in equity and equity-related instruments of mid-cap companies. SEBI defines mid-cap companies as the 101st to 250th companies listed on a recognised stock exchange, ranked by full market capitalisation, as enumerated in the AMFI list published every six months. Mid-cap funds occupy the risk-return space between <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/large-cap-mutual-fund-india/">large-cap funds</a> and <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/small-cap-mutual-fund-india/">small-cap funds</a> , offering higher long-term return potential than large-cap funds at the cost of higher volatility and larger drawdowns.</p>Multi-asset allocation mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/multi-asset-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/multi-asset-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>multi-asset allocation mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended hybrid scheme that must invest in at least three asset classes, with a minimum of 10% of its total assets in each of those asset classes, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. The most common combination is domestic equity, domestic debt, and gold (or gold-linked instruments). Some AMCs include international equity, silver, or real estate investment trusts (REITs) as the third or fourth asset class. Multi-asset allocation funds represent the broadest diversification available within a single open-ended mutual fund in India.</p>Multi-cap fund vs flexi-cap fund in Indiahttps://v2.webnotes.in/multi-cap-vs-flexi-cap/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/multi-cap-vs-flexi-cap/<p>SEBI’s October 2017 categorisation circular originally created a single “Multi-cap” fund category requiring diversified equity investment across market capitalisations. In January 2021, SEBI split this into two distinct categories, <strong>multi-cap</strong> and <strong>flexi-cap</strong>, with materially different mandatory allocation constraints. This article explains the distinction between the two categories and their practical implications for investors.</p> <h2 id="sebi-definitions">SEBI definitions</h2> <h3 id="multi-cap-fund">Multi-cap fund</h3> <p>SEBI’s September 2020 circular (SEBI/HO/IMD/DF3/CIR/P/2020/130) redefined multi-cap funds. The mandatory allocation requirement is:</p>Multi-cap mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/multi-cap-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/multi-cap-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>multi-cap mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that must, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s September 2020 amendment to the scheme categorisation framework, invest a minimum of 75% of its total assets in equity and equity-related instruments, with mandatory minimum allocations of 25% each to large-cap, mid-cap, and small-cap company stocks. This equal-minimum rule ensures that multi-cap funds genuinely diversify across all three market-capitalisation segments, unlike <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/flexi-cap-mutual-fund-india/">flexi-cap funds</a> which have no such minimum constraint.</p>NIFTY 50 index fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/nifty-50-index-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/nifty-50-index-fund/<p>A <strong>NIFTY 50 index fund</strong> is a passive open-ended equity scheme that replicates the NIFTY 50 index by holding the same 50 stocks in the same proportions (by free-float market capitalisation weight) as the index, with the objective of generating returns equal to those of the NIFTY 50 Total Return Index (TRI) net of expenses and tracking error. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 categorisation circular permits AMCs to operate multiple index funds tracking different indices, making NIFTY 50 index funds the most widely available and oldest passive equity category in India.</p>Overnight mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/overnight-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/overnight-mutual-fund/<p>An <strong>overnight mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended debt scheme that invests exclusively in debt and money-market instruments with a maturity of exactly one business day (overnight), under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. The fund’s entire portfolio is redeployed each business day into new overnight instruments, ensuring that at no point does the fund carry any instrument with a maturity beyond the next business day. This structure makes overnight funds the safest category within the Indian mutual fund universe: they carry effectively zero interest-rate duration risk and near-zero credit risk.</p>Sectoral and thematic mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/sectoral-thematic-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/sectoral-thematic-mutual-fund/<p><strong>Sectoral and thematic mutual funds</strong> in India are open-ended equity schemes that invest a minimum of 80% of their total assets in equity and equity-related instruments of companies within a specific sector or within a defined investment theme. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular placed these categories in a single bucket (“Sectoral/Thematic Funds”) but permits each AMC to operate multiple such schemes as long as each tracks a different sector or theme – the sole exception to the one-scheme-per-category rule that applies to most other equity categories.</p>Short-duration mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/short-duration-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/short-duration-mutual-fund/<p>A <strong>short-duration mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended debt scheme that must maintain a portfolio Macaulay duration of 1 to 3 years, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. The Macaulay duration is a measure of the weighted average time to receive a bond’s cash flows, and serves as a proxy for interest rate sensitivity. A portfolio with Macaulay duration of 1 to 3 years is moderately sensitive to interest rate changes – more sensitive than <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/ultra-short-mutual-fund/">ultra-short duration</a> or <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/money-market-mutual-fund/">money-market funds</a> but significantly less sensitive than <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/medium-duration-mutual-fund/">medium-duration</a> , <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/medium-to-long-duration-mutual-fund/">medium-to-long-duration</a> , or <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/long-duration-mutual-fund/">long-duration funds</a> .</p>Small-cap mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/small-cap-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/small-cap-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>small-cap mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that must, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular, invest a minimum of 65% of its total assets in equity and equity-related instruments of small-cap companies. SEBI defines small-cap companies as all companies ranked 251st and beyond on the full-market-capitalisation list published by AMFI every six months. The small-cap category represents thousands of listed companies, providing an extremely wide investment universe that includes early-stage businesses, niche market leaders, turnaround candidates, and regional franchises.</p>Ultra-short-duration mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/ultra-short-mutual-fund/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/ultra-short-mutual-fund/<p>An <strong>ultra-short-duration mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended debt scheme that must maintain a portfolio Macaulay duration of 3 to 6 months, under <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular. This duration band places ultra-short funds between the near-zero duration of <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/liquid-mutual-fund-india/">liquid funds</a> and <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/overnight-mutual-fund/">overnight funds</a> on one side, and the 6-12 month duration of <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/low-duration-mutual-fund/">low-duration funds</a> on the other. Ultra-short funds are commonly used as a higher-return alternative to liquid funds for investors with slightly longer holding horizons (1 to 6 months) who can tolerate marginally more interest rate and credit risk.</p>Value mutual fundhttps://v2.webnotes.in/value-mutual-fund-india/Tue, 12 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000https://v2.webnotes.in/value-mutual-fund-india/<p>A <strong>value mutual fund</strong> in India is an open-ended equity scheme that must follow a value investment strategy – selecting stocks that are trading at a discount to their estimated intrinsic value – and maintain a minimum of 65% of its total assets in equity and equity-related instruments. <a href="https://v2.webnotes.in/sebi-investment-management-department/">SEBI</a> ’s October 2017 scheme categorisation circular mandated that value funds be distinct from growth, blend, or other investment-style funds, requiring AMCs to specify and adhere to a value investment philosophy in their scheme information documents. Each AMC may operate only one value fund or one contra fund (but not both).</p>