Terms and Definitions
Net Asset Value (NAV) – the price of one unit of a mutual fund scheme on a given day. It is what you pay per unit when you buy and what you receive per unit (before any exit load) when you sell. Example: if the NAV is ₹50 and you invest ₹5,000, you get 100 units.
What is Mutual Fund NAV? – A mutual fund pools money from many investors and buys shares, bonds or other assets. Each investor holds units of the scheme, and the NAV is the value of one unit. NAV is not the “price” of the fund in the way a share price is set by buyers and sellers: it is worked out from the value of what the scheme actually owns.
How is NAV calculated? – NAV = (market value of all the scheme's investments + cash and other assets − liabilities and expenses) ÷ number of units outstanding. Example: a scheme holds assets worth ₹5,250 crore, owes ₹250 crore in expenses and other liabilities, and has 100 crore units. NAV = (5,250 − 250) ÷ 100 = ₹50.00. The fund's running costs (the expense ratio) are already deducted every day, so the published NAV is after costs.
How often is NAV updated? – Every business day. The scheme's holdings are valued at the market close, the NAV is worked out in the evening, and fund houses publish it on their own websites and on AMFI's website, normally the same night (the deadline is generally 11 pm; fund-of-funds have until the next morning). So the latest NAV you see during the day is usually the previous business day's. There is no new NAV on Saturdays, Sundays and market holidays, and some funds that invest abroad may show a NAV dated a day or two earlier.
Why check NAV? – To see what your units are worth today (units × NAV), to confirm that a purchase, SIP instalment or switch was allotted at the right price, to track how a fund has moved over days, months and years, and to compare the price at which you bought with the latest price. NAV alone does not tell you whether a fund is good: for that, look at returns over time, risk and cost, for example in our Mutual Fund Analysis Tool.
What is the cut-off time for same-day NAV on a purchase or SIP? – Under SEBI rules, for most schemes (equity, hybrid and debt) a purchase application received by 3:00 pm on a business day, with the money available to the fund for use by then, gets that day's NAV. For liquid and overnight schemes the purchase cut-off is earlier, 1:30 pm. The same purchase rules apply to a SIP instalment of any amount: it is allotted the NAV of the day the instalment money reaches the fund, so a SIP date that falls on a holiday is processed on the next business day. Your fund house or platform may set an earlier internal deadline for some payment methods, so check the scheme documents.
What is the cut-off time for redemption? – A redemption (sale) request received by 3:00 pm on a business day gets that day's NAV, less any exit load. Liquid and overnight schemes allow a later cut-off for requests placed online. The money reaches your bank account in the days that follow (usually one to three business days, depending on the scheme).
Which NAV do I get if I invest after the cut-off or on a holiday? – The NAV of the next business day. An order placed at 3:30 pm on a Monday gets Tuesday's NAV; an order placed on a Saturday, Sunday or market holiday gets the next business day's NAV. Because the next day's NAV is not known when you place the order, you cannot choose the price: you can only choose the day.
Does a lower NAV mean a cheaper fund? – No. NAV is only the price of one unit and depends on when the fund started and how it has grown. A fund with NAV ₹15 is not “cheaper” than one with NAV ₹500: ₹10,000 invested in either buys a different number of units but is worth the same amount, and what happens next depends on the fund's returns, not its NAV. Compare funds by returns, risk and cost, not by NAV.
Why do plans of the same scheme have different NAVs? – Each plan and option of a scheme (Regular or Direct; Growth or IDCW) has its own NAV because costs and payouts differ. Direct plans have a lower expense ratio, so their NAV grows faster than the Regular plan's. IDCW (payout) options pay out part of the money, which lowers their NAV, while Growth options keep all the gains in the NAV. This page shows the NAV of the exact plan you pick, and ranks Growth options first.
Do the units I hold change when the NAV changes? – No. Your number of units stays the same unless you buy, sell or switch; only the NAV, and so the value of your holding, moves. A bonus or a payout in an IDCW option can change units or NAV, which is why the Growth option is easier to follow.
What are entry load, exit load and the repurchase price? – Entry load has been abolished in India. An exit load is a fee some schemes charge if you sell within a stated period (for example 1% within one year); it is deducted from the sale value, so what you receive per unit is the NAV minus the exit load. Check the scheme's exit-load terms before you sell.
Where does the NAV on this page come from? – From the daily NAVs published by AMFI (the Association of Mutual Funds in India), read through our own server. This page shows the latest NAV available and its date, so you can see how recent it is. It is for information only; the NAV applicable to your own transaction is the one your fund house declares for the day your order is accepted.
To see how a fund has performed over time, use the Mutual Fund Analysis Tool; to see what a monthly SIP would have given, use the SIP Backtest Tool. To check the latest level of Sensex, Nifty 50 and other market indices, use Check Index Price.
Cut-off times and rules are as generally applicable under SEBI regulations at the time of writing and may change; the scheme information document of your fund prevails.
Nawneet Kumar Panjiyar is an AMFI Registered Mutual Fund Distributor (ARN 303470) and does not provide investment advisory services in the capacity of a Registered Investment Adviser. This page is for education and information only.
