Sundaram Mutual Fund Enters SIF Market With Ex-Top 100 Long-Short Strategy

मुख्य टेकअवे

• Sundaram's Select Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short Fund NFO opened on 21 October and closes on 4 November. 
• The portfolio is expected to hold around 25 to 40 stocks, mainly outside India's top 100 companies by market capitalisation. 
• The strategy can use equity derivatives for unhedged short exposure of up to 25% of the portfolio. 

Sundaram Mutual Fund has entered India's Specialised Investment Fund segment with the launch of the Select Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short Fund, an equity-oriented strategy focused primarily on companies outside the country's 100 largest listed businesses. 

The new fund offer opened on 21 October 2026 and will remain open until 4 November 2026, according to Sundaram's SIF platform. 

Moneycontrol reported that Sundaram is targeting around ₹350 crore through its first SIF offering. 

The strategy is expected to run a concentrated portfolio of around 25 to 40 stocks. Its investment universe will predominantly consist of companies ranked outside the top 100 by market capitalisation, placing much of its potential equity exposure in the mid- and small-cap segments. 

Long and Short Positions Allowed 

The structure differs from a conventional long-only equity mutual fund because it can take short positions through derivatives. 

Between 65% and 100% of the portfolio can be allocated to equity and equity-related instruments of companies outside the top 100, including permitted short exposure. Up to 35% may be invested in debt and money-market instruments. 

Unhedged short exposure through equity derivatives is capped at 25% of net assets, in line with the SIF framework. 

Sundaram has indicated that derivatives may also be used for hedging, yield-enhancement strategies and relative-value trades. 

Specialised Investment Funds operate within a SEBI-regulated framework but allow investment strategies that conventional mutual funds generally cannot use. Sundaram's own SIF material lists the regulatory minimum investment for SIFs at ₹10 lakh at the PAN level. 

The new strategy therefore occupies a different risk and product segment from standard diversified equity mutual funds. 

The launch adds to the growing number of asset managers using the SIF framework to offer long-short and other more flexible portfolio strategies following the creation of the category by SEBI. 

As with other market-linked products, the ability to take short positions does not eliminate the risk of loss, and historical market behaviour does not indicate future returns.