Fund Manager An employee of the asset management company such as mutual fund or life insurer, who manages investments of the scheme. He is usually part of larger team of fund managers and research analysts.

Application amount for fresh subscription This is the minimum investment amount for a new investor in a mutual fund scheme

Minimum Additional Amount This is the minimum investment amount for an existing investor in a mutual fund scheme

Yield to Maturity The yield to maturity or the YTM is the rate of return anticipated on a bond if held until maturity. YTM is expressed as an annual rate. The YTM factors in the bond’s current market price, par value, couple interest rate and time to maturity

SIP SIP or systematic investment plan works on the principle of making periodic investments of a fixed sum. It works similar to a recurring bank deposit. For instance, an investor may opt for an SIP that invests Rs 500 every 15th of the month in an equity fund for a period of three years.

NAV The NAV or net asset value is the total asset value per unit of the mutual fund after deducting all related and permissible expenses. The NAV is calculated at the end of every business day. It is the value at which investors enter or exit the mutual fund

Benchmark A group of securities , usually a market index, whose performance is used as a standard or benchmark to measure investment performance of mutual funds, among other investments. Some typical benchmark include the Nifty, Sensex, BSE 200, BSE 500, 10-year Gsec

Entry Load A mutual fund may have a sales charge or load at the time of entry and/or exit to compensate the distributor /agent. Entry load is charged at the time an investor purchases the units of a mutual fund. The entry load is added to the prevailing NAV at the time of investment. For instance, if the NAV is Rs 100 and the entry load is 1%, the investor will enter the fund at Rs 101.

Note: SEBI, vide circular dated June 30, 2009 has abolished entry load and mandated that the upfront commission to distributors will be paid by the investor directly to the distributor, based on his assessment of various factors including the service rendered by the distributor.

Exit load Exit load is charged at the time an investor redeems the units of a mutual fund. The exit load is deducted from the prevailing NAV at the time of redemption. For instance, if the NAV is RS 100and an exit load is 1%, the redemption price would be Rs. 99 per unit

Modified Duration Modified duration is the price sensitivity and the percentage change in price for a unit change in yield.

Standard deviation Standard deviation is statistical measure of the range of an investment’s performance. When a mutual fund has a high standard deviation, it means its range of performance is wide, implying greater volatility.

Sharp Ratio The Sharpe Ratio, named after its founder the Noble laureate William Sharpe, is measure of risk-adjusted returns. It is calculated using standard deviation and excess return to determine reward per unit of risk.

Beta Beta is a measure of an investment’s volatility vis-à-vis the market. Beta of less than 1 means that the security will be less volatile than the market. A beta of greater than 1 implies that the security’s price will be more volatile than the market.

AUM AUM or assets under management refers to the recent / updated cumulative market value of investments managed by Mutual fund or any investment firm.

Holdings The holdings or the portfolio is a mutual fund’s latest or updated reported statement of investments/securities. These are usually displayed in terms of percentage to net assets or the rupee value or both. The objective is to give investors an idea of where their money is being invested by the fund manager.

Nature of Scheme The investment objective and underlying investments determine the nature of the mutual fund scheme. For instance, a mutual fund that aims at generating capital appreciation by investing in stock markets is an equity fund or growth fund. Likewise, a mutual fund that aims at capital preservation by investing in debt markets is a debt fund or income fund. Each of these categories may have sub-categories.

Rating Profile Mutual funds invest in securities after evaluating their credit worthiness as disclosed by the ratings. A depiction of the mutual fund in various investments based on their rating becomes the rating profile of the fund. Typically, this is a feature of debt funds.

Macaulay Duration Macaulay Duration is a measure of how long it takes for the price of a bond to be repaid by its internal cash flows. Macaulay Duration is used only for an instrument with fixed cash flows. Modified Duration as the name suggests, is a modified version of the Macaulay model that accounts for changing interest rates.

Average Maturity A bond's maturity date indicates the specific future date on which an investor gets his principal back i.e. the borrowed amount is repaid in full. Average Maturity is the weighted average of all the current maturities of the debt securities held in the fund.

Standard Deviation Standard deviation is a statistical tool that measures the deviation or dispersion of the data from the mean or average. When seen in mutual funds, it tells you how much the return from your mutual fund portfolio is straying from the expected return, based on the fund's historical performance.

IDCW IDCW stands for ‘Income Distribution cum Capital Withdrawal option’. The amounts can be distributed out of investors’ capital (Equalization Reserve), which is part of the sale price that represents realized gains.

P/E Ratio The price-earnings ratio (P/E Ratio) is the relation between a company’s share price and earnings per share (EPS). It denotes what the market is willing to pay for a company’s profits.

P/BV The price-to-book ratio compares a company's market value to its book value. The market value of a company is its share price multiplied by the number of outstanding shares.

IDCW Yield The dividend yield is a financial ratio that shows how much a company pays out in dividends each year relative to its stock price.

Interest Rate Swap (IRS) An interest rate swap is a forward contract in which one stream of future interest payments is exchanged for another based on a specified principal amount. Interest rate swaps usually involve the exchange of a fixed interest rate for a floating rate, or vice versa, to reduce or increase exposure to fluctuations in interest rates.

Potential Risk Class (PRC) Matrix In reference to SEBI Circular SEBI/HO/IMD/IMD-II DOF3/P/CIR/2021/573 dated June 07, 2021, all debt schemes will be classified in terms of a Potential Risk Class matrix which consists of parameters based on maximum interest rate risk (measured by Macaulay Duration (MD) of the scheme) and maximum credit risk (measured by Credit Risk Value (CRV) of the scheme).