Equity Mutual Funds

An Equity mutual Fund is a Mutual Fund which invests predominantly in shares/stocks of companies.

Equity funds may be further in terms of market capitalization of the companies the fund is investing in- Large cap, mid cap, small cap or micro-cap funds.

Equity Funds may be either Active or Passive.  In case an Active Fund, a fund manager will actively be on the lookout for opportunities to invest by conducting research on companies, keeping a track of the market and examining performance both past and present. In a Passive Fund, the fund manager builds a portfolio that mirrors a popular market index, say Sensex or Nifty Fifty.

Equity funds can also be Diversified or Sectoral / Thematic. A diversified equity scheme invests in stocks across the entire market spectrum, a sectoral/ thematic scheme is restricted to only a particular sector or theme, say, Real Estate or Information & Technology etc.

An equity mutual fund generally produces higher returns than other fund categories but also carries more risk.

Equity schemes act as long-term wealth builders and form a very important part of your investment portfolio. Paired with debt or balanced funds, they are at the crux of an ideal diversified investment plan.

Equity mutual fund schemes are liquid. You can redeem your investments at any time (Except for Equity Linked Saving Schemes-‘ELSS’ which has a 3 year lock in period). Redemption of your investments in the time of need or at an NAV higher than that at the time of purchase thus is very easy. It also makes sense to invest in equity mutual fund schemes during a market downturn to get more units at lower NAV.