The new middle
Specialized Investment Funds
Advanced strategies inside the mutual fund framework — live since April 2025.
SIFs are SEBI's newest category: strategy-focused schemes such as long-short equity, run by established mutual fund houses, with more flexibility than a regular fund but far lower entry than PMS or AIF. The minimum is ₹10 lakh aggregated across strategies with one AMC.
Layer 3 of 6 in the access spectrum
How it works
Pick a strategy, not just a fund
SEBI permits seven strategy types across equity, debt and hybrid — each defined by what it may go long, short or rotate into.
Understand the extra levers
SIFs may take unhedged short exposure up to 25% of net assets through derivatives, with gross exposure capped at 100%. More tools, more ways to differ from the index — in both directions.
Size it inside the portfolio
A SIF is a satellite allocation, not a replacement for your core. We help you decide how much belongs here relative to your goals.
Who this is for
Experienced investors who have outgrown plain-vanilla funds
Portfolios seeking hedged or long-short exposure without a ₹50 lakh PMS ticket
Investors who value mutual-fund-style regulation, disclosure and taxation
The seven permitted strategies
Equity long-short
Long equity with hedged or directional short positions
Ex-top-100 long-short
Long-short outside the largest 100 stocks
Sector rotation
Concentrated moves between sectors
Debt long-short
Duration and credit positioning across debt
Sectoral debt long-short
Sector-focused debt strategies
Hybrid long-short
Blended equity–debt with shorting ability
Active asset allocator
Dynamic movement across asset classes
Good questions
Asked at almost every first meeting
The honest answers, before you even have to ask. Anything else — that's what the first conversation is for.
It lives inside the same SEBI mutual fund framework — same disclosure and taxation — but the strategy can short, rotate and concentrate in ways a regular scheme can't. That flexibility is the point, and the risk.
SEBI set the threshold to keep these strategies with investors who can absorb their complexity. The ₹10 lakh minimum is aggregated across all SIF strategies with one AMC, and can drop if your holdings fall due to market movement rather than redemption.
Equity-oriented SIF strategies are taxed like equity mutual funds, and debt-oriented ones like debt funds — one of the clearest advantages over PMS and Category III AIF structures.
Plain-spoken risk
What can go wrong
Every instrument on this page is market-linked or carries its own constraints. You should know them before you commit — here they are, without the fine-print font size.
A young category — limited live track record to evaluate managers on.
Derivative strategies add complexity; short positions can lose money when markets rise.
Returns are market-linked with no assurance the strategy objective is achieved.
Specialized Investment Funds are market-linked and involve derivative strategies. Read the strategy's offer documents carefully. Minimum investment thresholds are set by regulation and the AMC.
Wondering if SIF belongs in your plan?
That depends on your goals, horizon and what you already hold — exactly the conversation we start with.
Talk to us