What is 'Benchmark'

Arbitrage fund is a type of mutual fund that leverages the price differential in the cash and derivatives market to generate returns. The returns are dependent on the volatility of the asset. These funds are hybrid in nature as they have the provision of investing a sizeable portion of the portfolio in debt markets.Description: Arbitrage funds are the panacea for low risk taking investors. In a si

: A benchmark is an unmanaged group of securities which are considered as a 'benchmark' to measure a fund's/stock's performance. Benchmarks are generally broad market indices like BSE Sensex, CNX Nifty of the Indian stock market with which mutual fund returns are compared. Description: If a fund returned 59% in a particular year, but the benchmark Sensex returned 70%, this infers the fund under

The unit capital of closed-ended funds is fixed and they sell a specific number of units. Unlike in open-ended funds, investors cannot buy the units of a closed-ended fund after its NFO period is over. Description: This means that new investors cannot enter, nor can the existing investors exit till the term of the scheme ends. However, to provide a platform for investors to exit before the term, t

Commodity funds are funds which basically invest in commodities, such as gold, oil or livestock. They also invest in commodity futures and options. Some commodity funds invest in the stocks of companies, like gold funds which invest in the stocks of gold mining companies.Description: As the name suggests, a commodity market covers various kinds of products such as gold, oil and various agri produc

: A custodian is responsible for keeping as well as safeguarding the investments and securities on behalf of the owners. Description: A mutual fund company requires an organization or a bank to hold and safe keep records of its assets and investments which have been acquired using the pooled funds of a large number of investors. A custodian helps ensuring the interests of the investors by keepi

: Debt funds are mutual funds that invest in fixed income securities like bonds and treasury bills. Gilt fund, monthly income plans (MIPs), short term plans (STPs), liquid funds, and fixed maturity plans (FMPs) are some of the investment options in debt funds. Apart from these categories, debt funds include various funds investing in short term, medium term and long term bonds. Description: Deb