Arudha · Bandhan AMC Limited · Specialised Investment Fund
Arudha Hybrid Long-Short Fund
Not investableResearch only: not open to paper books, as a ₹10 lakh minimum and set redemption days do not fit.
SIFHybrid Long-Shortinterval (redemptions on set days only)risk band 1, the lowest of fiveminimum ₹10 lakh
The “SIF” label does not say how much risk a fund takes or what it charges; funds with one label differ on both. A year of NAVs with one fall in it is not enough to call any figure below a trait of the fund.
At a glance
from the fund’s own documents
NAV, 12 Oct 2026 NAVNet asset value: the price of one unit of the fund.
₹10.43
Direct, Growth
Since the first NAV
+3.8%
4 Feb 2026 – 28 Sep 2026 · +5.9% a year
History HistoryNothing under six months is turned into a yearly rate.
7 months
Yearly fee, Direct / Regular Yearly feeWhat the fund house charges a year for running the fund, Regular and Direct, as a share of assets, against the median fund of its category: the base expense ratio, or the total expense ratio for months before April 2026, when only the total was stated. Brokerage, transaction cost and taxes charged on top are not in it.
0.83% / 1.27%
a year, published 28 Sep 2026
When money can be taken out When money can be taken outAn interval fund pays out only on set days.
Twice a week, Monday and Thursday
from the offer document
Measured on this SIF
each with the case for and against
SIFToo young to judge Too young to judgeHow long the record is. A return over a few months says what happened in those months; raised to a yearly rate it would be a number the fund never earned, so nothing under six months is shown that way.
7 months of NAVs, from 4 Feb 2026 to 28 Sep 2026
+3.8% since the first NAV, +5.9% a year
First NAV4 Feb 2026Latest NAV28 Sep 2026Share class readSIF-54, the Direct Growth class where there is one
Why it might matter, and why it might not
Why this might matterEverything on a SIF page is at most a year old, and most of it is months. Knowing the length first stops a short, lucky or unlucky stretch being read as a record.
Why it might notLength is not quality. A long record from a market that only rose is no better evidence than a short one, and a young fund may be well run.
SIFAgainst the right alternative, on the same dates Against the right alternative, on the same datesA SIF is set against the mutual funds a buyer could hold instead, read on exactly the same two dates as the SIF. The median is the middle fund of the group; a fund without a NAV on both dates is left out and counted, never read off a nearby day.
+3.8% from 4 Feb 2026 to 25 Sep 2026, against +4.1% for Arbitrage funds, median Direct plan
−0.35 percentage points over those dates; on ₹10 lakh, ₹3,521 less
Against
This fund
Alternative
Difference
On ₹10 lakh
Arbitrage funds, median Direct plan (35 funds; 4 without NAVs on both dates left out) the like-for-like alternative for a hybrid that keeps its equity hedged: low risk, taxed as equity +6.0% against +6.6% a yearMore
+3.8%
+4.1%
−0.35 percentage points
₹3,521 less
Balanced advantage funds, median Direct plan (35 funds; 1 without NAVs on both dates left out) the alternative for a hybrid that takes a view on the market; AMFI’s data does not say which kind this fund is, so both are shown +6.0% against +0.3% a yearMore
+3.8%
+0.2%
+3.61 percentage points
₹36,086 more
Why it might matter, and why it might not
Why this might matterA long-short fund compared with the whole market looks brilliant in a fall and poor in a rally; compared with the fund a buyer would otherwise hold, the difference is the SIF’s own contribution, fees included.
Why it might notThe comparisons are chosen by the mandate, not by what the fund actually holds, and the published data does not say whether a hybrid SIF keeps its equity hedged or takes a view. Over months, the difference is mostly the market’s path.
SIFWhich market it has seen Which market it has seenThe one fall in SIF history so far ran from the Nifty 500’s high on 5 Jan 2026 to its low on 19 Mar 2026. A SIF live through it has been tested once; one launched after it has only seen prices rise.
First NAV 4 Feb 2026: launched during the fall, so neither its whole record nor the fall itself can be read
First NAV4 Feb 2026Live for the fallnoBorn after the lowno
Why it might matter, and why it might not
Why this might matterThe promise of a long-short fund is a smaller fall. Only the funds live then have any evidence on it, and a fund with none reads as untested, not as safe.
Why it might notOne fall is one event. A fund that fell less this time may have been positioned for this fall, not for falls in general.
SIFWhat the mandate allows What the mandate allowsAt least 25% in equity and at least 25% in debt, with up to 25% short through unhedged derivatives. Net equity is long minus short; the bounds follow from those limits alone. This is arithmetic from the rules, not a reading of the portfolio.
Between 0% and 75% of the fund net long equity, by the rules alone
The offer document states no net-exposure range of its own
Stated asset allocationDebt & Money Market Instruments - 35 % to 65% Equity & Equity Related Instruments - 35% to 65% Units Issued by InvITs - 0% to 20%
Why it might matter, and why it might not
Why this might matterThe range is how different two funds with the same label are allowed to be: an equity long-short fund can sit at 55% or 100% net long, which are two different products.
Why it might notThe rules bound the fund; they do not say where in the range it sits. Only the portfolio, published every other month, says that.
SIFWhat it costs What it costsThe yearly fee as published each day. The gap to the alternative is the extra return the strategy must earn just to break even with it.
Direct plan 0.83% a year, against 1.46% for Arbitrage funds, median Direct plan
The alternative costs 0.63 percentage points a year more than this fund
As of28 Sep 2026Regular plan1.27% a yearStated maximum, Direct0.83% a yearDirect over Regular, from the two NAVs+0.31 percentage points from 4 Feb 2026 to 28 Sep 2026 (+0.49 percentage points a year)
Why it might matter, and why it might not
Why this might matterThe fee is the one number known in advance. A long-short strategy has to beat a cheaper fund by at least the fee gap, every year, for the extra complexity to pay for itself.
Why it might notA fee is paid for something. A strategy that falls less in a crash may be worth a higher fee to someone who would otherwise sell at the bottom.
SIFWhere the gain came from Where the gain came fromHow much of the rise since the first NAV happened in the single strongest calendar month, measured in NAV points so all months add up to the whole.
Jun 2026 (+1.6%) made 43% of the gain since launch
Months read8PortfolioSIFs disclose their holdings every other month (as of the end of January, March, May, July, September and November), on each brand’s own website. They are not collected in this build yet.
Why it might matter, and why it might not
Why this might matterA record made in one month is one good call, not a method; the same return spread over many months says more about the strategy.
Why it might notSome strategies are built to earn in bursts — a hedge that pays in the one month the market breaks — so a concentrated record is not a flaw in itself.
SIFThe risk the fund states The risk the fund statesSEBI has each SIF state a risk band from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest). Funds of one strategy type state very different bands — the label does not fix the risk.
Risk band 1, the lowest of five, as its own summary document states; Hybrid Long-Short funds state bands from 1 to 5
Band 2 at launch, band 1 now
Band 16 fundsBand 21 fundBand 31 fundBand 52 funds
Why it might matter, and why it might not
Why this might matterTwo funds with one label and bands 1 and 5 are different products; the band is the fund house’s own reading of that difference.
Why it might notThe band is self-declared and moves with the portfolio; a low band on a young fund describes intentions more than a record.
SIFHow big the strategy type has grown How big the strategy type has grownThe monthly SIF report publishes assets per strategy type, not per fund; a fund’s own size is in its factsheet. A small fund (under ₹200 crore) can close or merge; a fast-growing strategy type can run out of short positions to take.
₹19,670 crore across 11 Hybrid Long-Short funds at the end of Aug 2026
+103% in three months
Why it might matter, and why it might not
Why this might matterMoney arriving fast into a new product is a reason to ask whether the strategy scales; shorting in size is harder than buying.
Why it might notGrowth describes demand, not quality, and a strategy type’s total says nothing certain about any one fund in it.
Checks not yet possible
and what each one needs
Consistency over rolling three-year stretches (P4)
not measurable yet: 7 months of NAVs, and the first three-year stretch needs 36
Direct against Regular, as a yearly rate over a year or more (P5)
not measurable yet: 7 months of NAVs; the gap to date is shown below instead
Turnover, how long top holdings are kept, and their hit rate (P1–P3)
not measurable: SIF portfolios are published every other month on each brand’s own site and are not collected here yet
Tracking the published NAV against the disclosed book
not measurable: needs a disclosed portfolio and daily prices for every line, including the short positions
Manager tenure against the category (P7)
the managers are listed from the summary document; there is no category record to measure a tenure against
NAV NAV chartMonth-end NAV, set to 100 at the first month. The last point is the latest NAV held, not a month-end.
Direct, Growth, from 100
9 month-ends
What its documents state
terms and where each came from
Brand and fund house
Arudha · Bandhan AMC Limited
Strategy
Hybrid Long-Short — At least 25% in equity and at least 25% in debt, with up to 25% short through unhedged derivatives.
Structure
interval (redemptions on set days only)
When money can be taken out
Twice a week, Monday and Thursday
Minimum investment
₹10 lakh
Exit load (a fee for leaving early)
Entry Load: Nil; Exit Load: Nil
Benchmark it names
CRISIL Hybrid 85+15 Conservative Index
First NAV
4 Feb 2026
Fund managers, as the summary document names them
Brijesh Shah, Debraj Lahiri, Kapil Kankonkar, Nilesh Saha
Sources SourcesEvery figure is read from the registry’s SIF pages and the documents filed for each strategy. A field a document does not state is shown as not stated, never filled in.
Signed-in readers
This section holds the documents each figure was read from, with a link to each and the date it was read.
A Specialised Investment Fund (SIF) is a mutual-fund-regulated product SEBI allowed from April 2025, sold under a brand separate from the fund house’s name (Altiva is Edelweiss, qsif is quant, Magnum is SBI). It may sell short — bet on prices falling, through derivatives — up to a quarter of its assets, which an ordinary mutual fund may not. The minimum investment is ₹10 lakh per investor per fund house, and many SIFs are interval funds: money can be taken out only on set days, not on any business day.
NAV
net asset value: the price of one unit, published each business day
Long-short
buys some securities (long) and bets on others falling (short), within SEBI’s 25% limit on unhedged short positions
Net exposure
long positions minus short positions, as a share of the fund: how much of it moves with the market
Interval fund
one that pays out redemptions only on set days (for example every Monday and Wednesday), not on any business day
Direct / Regular plan
the same portfolio bought without a distributor (Direct) or with one paid out of the fund (Regular)
Yearly fee
what the fund house charges a year for running the fund, as a percentage of its assets (the base expense ratio); it is published daily for each SIF
Median
the middle fund of a group, when they are lined up by return
Arbitrage fund
a mutual fund that buys a share and sells its future at once, earning the gap with little market risk
Balanced advantage fund
a mutual fund that moves between equity and debt by its own rule