Investment Strategy Information Document

An ordinary mutual fund scheme has a Scheme Information Document. It tells an investor what the scheme buys. It tells them what the scheme might risk.

A Specialized Investment Fund (SIF) strategy has its own version of this document. It is called the Investment Strategy Information Document, or ISID.

The ISID does one thing a normal SID does not do. SIF strategies sit closer to alternative investments than a plain mutual fund scheme. So SEBI wants more than a list of risks. The ISID must show a scenario analysis. It has to tell the investor what they could actually lose in different market moves, in real terms.

Even the portfolio disclosure runs on a different clock for a SIF, matching its different investor base and its different style of strategy.

Chapter 5 states the requirement directly: SIFs must include scenario analysis in their Investment Strategy Information Document, depicting the expected loss to the investor due to market movements — a forward-looking loss disclosure, not only a narrative of risk factors.

Portfolio disclosure for SIFs also runs on its own schedule, distinct from an ordinary scheme's monthly or fortnightly cycle: SIFs disclose their portfolio as on the last day of every alternate month — May, July, September, November, January and March — uploaded to the AMC's and AMFI's websites within 10 days of the close of that month, in a user-friendly, downloadable format, and must include all securities along with their ISIN.

Illustrative — the workbook states the disclosure requirement, not a worked scenario table.

A SIF strategy pursuing a long-short equity approach publishes an ISID that includes a scenario table something like:

Market move        Expected impact on strategy NAV
−20% (equity crash) −12% (partial hedge cushions the fall)
 Flat               −1% (cost drag)
+20% (equity rally) +9% (hedges cap the upside too)

On a Rs 10,00,000 investment, the −20% market scenario translates to a disclosed expected loss of roughly Rs 1,20,000 for that investor — the specific figure an ordinary equity scheme's SID risk-factor section would not give in this explicit, scenario-by-scenario form. The strategy's portfolio itself is then disclosed as on 31 July, uploaded by 10 August, the next date in the SIF's alternate-month disclosure cycle.

Chapter 5 (Scheme Related Information) covers the ISID directly after the ordinary portfolio disclosure rules, as part of SIF-specific disclosures. Expect a question distinguishing SID (ordinary schemes) from ISID (SIF strategies), and on the alternate-month portfolio disclosure cycle unique to SIFs.

• ISID is SIF-specific; an ordinary mutual fund scheme still uses an SID, not an ISID.
• Scenario analysis showing expected loss is an ISID requirement that goes beyond a standard SID's general risk-factor section.
• SIF portfolio disclosure runs on alternate months (May, July, September, November, January, March), not monthly — a different cadence from an ordinary open-ended scheme.
• The 10-day disclosure window is from the close of the relevant month, matching the general portfolio-disclosure timeline used elsewhere in the workbook, not a SIF-specific shorter window.