Equity Fund Classification by SEBI

Sr.No.	Category of Schemes		Scheme Characteristics		Type of scheme (uniform description of scheme)
1	Multi Cap Fund		Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments- 65% of total assets		Multi Cap Fund- An open ended equity scheme investing across large cap, mid cap, small cap stocks
2	Large Cap Fund		Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments of large cap companies- 80% of total assets		Large Cap Fund- An open ended equity scheme predominantly investing in large cap stocks
3	Large & Mid Cap Fund		Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments of large cap companies- 35% of total assets Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments of mid cap stocks- 35% of total assets		Large & Mid Cap Fund- An open ended equity scheme investing in both large cap and mid cap stocks
4	Mid Cap Fund		Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments of mid cap companies- 65% of total assets		Mid Cap Fund- An open ended equity scheme predominantly investing in mid cap stocks
5	Small cap Fund		Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments of small cap companies- 65% of total assets		Small Cap Fund- An open ended equity scheme predominantly investing in small cap stocks
6	Dividend Yield Fund		Scheme should predominantly invest in dividend yielding stocks. Minimum investment in equity- 65% of total assets		An open ended equity scheme predominantly investing in dividend yielding stocks
7	Value Fund*		Scheme should follow a value investment strategy. Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments - 65% of total assets		An open ended equity scheme following a value investment strategy
Contra Fund*		Scheme should follow a contrarian investment strategy. Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments - 65% of total assets		An open ended equity scheme following contrarian investment strategy
8	Focused Fund		A scheme focused on the number of stocks (maximum 30) Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments - 65% of total assets		An open ended equity scheme investing in maximum 30 stocks (mention where the scheme intends to focus, viz.,
9	Sectoral/ Thematic		Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments of a particular sector/ particular theme- 80% of total assets		An open ended equity scheme investing in __ sector (mention the sector)/ An open ended equity scheme following __ theme (mention the theme)
10	ELSS		Minimum investment in equity & equity related instruments - 80% of total assets (in accordance with Equity Linked Saving Scheme, 2005 notified by Ministry of Finance)		An open ended equity linked saving scheme with a statutory lock in of 3 years and tax benefit

Debt fund classification

Debt Mutual Funds mainly invest in a mix of debt  securities such as Treasury Bills, Government Securities, Corporate Bonds, Money Market instruments and other debt securities of different time horizons.

The following are the 16 classification of debt fund as classified by SEBI (Security Exchange Board of India):

1.  Overnight Fund – Investment in overnight securities having maturity of 1 day.

2.  Liquid Fund – Investment in debt and money market securities with maturity of up to 91 days.

3.  Ultra Short Duration Fund – Investment in debt and money market securities that have duration of the portfolio between 3 to 6 months.

4.  Low Duration Fund – Investment in debt and money market securities that have duration of the portfolio between 6 to 12 months.

5.  Money Market Fund – Investment in money market instruments having maturity upto 1 year.

6.  Short Duration Fund – Investment in debt and money market securities that have duration of the portfolio between 1 to 3 years.

7.  Medium Duration Fund – Investment in debt and money market securities that have duration of the portfolio between 3 to 4 years.

8.  Medium to Long Duration Fund – Investment in debt and money market securities that have duration of the portfolio between 4 to 7 years.

9.  Long Duration Fund – Investment in debt and money market securities that have duration of the portfolio greater than 7 years.

10.  Dynamic Bond - Investment across duration.

11.  Corporate Bond Fund – Minimum 80% investment in corporate bonds with highest rated instruments.

12.  Credit Risk Fund – Minimum 65% investment in corporate bonds in below highest rated instruments.

13.  Banking and PSU Fund – Minimum 80% investment in bonds issued by Public sector banks, Public sector undertakings, Public Financial Institutions.

14.  Gilt Fund – Minimum 80% investment in G-Secs or Government securities across maturity.

15.  Gilt Fund with 10 year Constant Duration – Minimum 80% investment in GSecs such that the duration of portfolio is 10 year.

16.  Floater Fund – Minimum 65% investment in floating rate instruments.

Interest rates slashed!!!!

The government on Friday, March 18, 2016, reduced interest rates on small savings schemes across the board, viz., Public Provident Fund, Senior Citizen Savings Scheme, MIP, NSC, KVP.  The rates on small savings schemes have been reduced to align them to market rates.

The government has now decided on revising interest rates on small saving schemes every quarter, the new rates, therefore, will be applicable from April 1 to June 30.

Terming the decision slashing of interest rates as a “normal exercise of resetting” rates in March every year, Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das said, according to a report.  “This will enable banks to consequently reduce their deposit rates and extend loan and credit to public and borrowers at lower rates.”

In its February 16 statement, the finance ministry had said: “The Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, the Senior Citizen Savings Scheme and the Monthly Income Scheme are savings schemes based on laudable social development or social security goals. Hence, the interest rate and spread that these schemes enjoy over the G-sec rate of comparable maturity viz., of 75 bps, 100 bps and 25 bps respectively have been left untouched by the Government.”  On Friday, however, the rates on these 3 schemes were reduced by 60-70 basis points along with all other small saving schemes.

RBI has cut the repo rate by 125 basis points since January 2015, but the banks reduced their lending rate by only about 70 basis points.  Bank’s arguments were that if they lowered their rates further, they would lose deposits to small saving schemes.  This move by the government is seen to facilitate banks to further lower their deposit rates and subsequently the lending rates to help kick start economic activity.

The RBI is slated to review its monetary policy on April 4 and financial market expects another 25-50 BP rate cut from the RBI in the calendar year 2016.