How to read a factsheet: every number on a fund, index or strategy sheet

What a factsheet is, and the three kinds you will meet

A factsheet is a short, standard summary published every month. You will meet three kinds:

• A mutual fund factsheet, published by the fund house every month. SEBI requires funds to show performance next to a benchmark and to carry a riskometer, and to publish the full portfolio monthly.
• An index factsheet, published by the index provider, such as NSE Indices for the Nifty family. It describes a rule, not a fund: no fees, no manager, no cash.
• A strategy factsheet, such as a PMS or a rules based strategy. Read its label carefully: is it actual client money, or a back test?

The layout differs, but the questions are the same. This guide walks through them on a real index factsheet, then shows what changes on a fund and on a strategy.

Worked example: the Nifty Midcap 150 factsheet, 30 Sep 2026

Take NSE's factsheet for the Nifty Midcap 150 dated 30 Sep 2026. Here is what each block says, and what to take from it.

What it is. "The next 150 companies (companies ranked 101 to 250) based on full market capitalisation from Nifty 500." Free float market value weights, 150 constituents, base date 1 Apr 2005 at 1,000, launched 1 Apr 2016, rebalanced twice a year. One line tells you this is a mid cap index, and the launch date tells you that anything before April 2016 is a back calculation.

Returns. Two rows: price return and total return. Total return adds dividends back and is the one to compare with a fund.

The footnote matters: periods up to one year are absolute, periods over one year are annualised. Mixing the two is the most common reading mistake.

Risk. Standard deviation 16.19% over one year and 16.86% over five; beta against the Nifty 50 of 1.05 and 1.00; correlation 0.87 and 0.82. In words: the index swung a bit more than the Nifty 50 day to day, moved roughly one for one with it on average, and less than perfectly in step.

Valuation and holdings. P/E 28.40, P/B 3.83, dividend yield 0.71%. Financial services was 26.75% of the index, the largest single stock only 2.07%. A broad, evenly spread index, priced well above the large caps.

The return block: read it like this

• Several periods, never one. A one year return depends mostly on where the year started. The blog note the three year number that changes every day shows how much a trailing return moves as the start date rolls.
• Next to the benchmark. A fund that returned 12% while its benchmark returned 15% lost to its own yardstick. Fund factsheets must show the benchmark; check it is the right one for the category.
• Absolute or annualised. Up to one year is usually absolute; beyond, annualised (CAGR). The CAGR and XIRR guide explains why your own SIP return is a third number again.
• Direct or regular plan. A mutual fund has two plans with the same portfolio. The regular plan pays a distributor commission out of the expense ratio, so its returns are lower by that amount every year.

The risk block: four numbers

1. Standard deviation is how much returns swing around their average, annualised. Higher means a bumpier ride. Compare it only within the same kind of fund.
2. Beta is how much the portfolio moved for each 1% move in the benchmark. Above 1 is more sensitive, below 1 less.
3. Sharpe ratio is the return above a risk free rate per unit of volatility. It answers "was the extra return worth the extra swing?"
4. The riskometer, on every mutual fund, sets one of six levels from Low to Very High, reviewed every month. Since 1 Jan 2021 it is set per scheme, not per category.

Look for one more: the deepest fall, or maximum drawdown, and how long it took to recover. Many fund factsheets do not show it; strategy factsheets usually do. It is the figure that best predicts whether you will stay invested. The Sharpe and volatility calculator computes the first three from your own numbers.

The cost block: expense ratio, exit load, turnover

A mutual fund's total expense ratio (TER) is taken out of the fund every day, so the NAV and the returns you see are already after it. SEBI caps it on a sliding scale by fund size and type, with index funds and ETFs on a lower cap. Three more lines matter:

• Exit load: a charge for leaving early, often 1% on units sold within a year in equity funds. It is set by each scheme.
• Portfolio turnover ratio: how much of the portfolio was traded over the year. High turnover means more trading costs inside the fund, which the TER does not show.
• For a PMS or a strategy: the fee structure, which may be a fixed fee, a share of profits, or a fee per trade. The PMS guide works through a profit share in rupees.

The holdings block: what you actually own

The top ten holdings, sector weights and, for a fund, the cash and debt share tell you whether the fund is what its name says. Three checks:

• Concentration. What share sit in the top ten? A "flexi cap" fund with 60% in ten stocks is a concentrated bet.
• Overlap. Compare the top holdings of two funds you own. If they share most names, you own one bet twice.
• Valuation. P/E and P/B tell you how richly the holdings are priced. They are not timing signals, but they set expectations.

What changes on a strategy factsheet

A strategy factsheet, from a PMS, an AIF or a rules based platform, has the same blocks plus three you must read first:

A back test shows what a rule would have done if it had been run in the past. It can be honest and still flatter: the rule was designed knowing that past. The back testing module explains how to judge one.

How to read a factsheet in five minutes

1. Check the label and the datefund, index or strategy; actual or model; and the as of date on every figure.
2. Read what it holdsthe category, the universe and the benchmark it is measured against.
3. Compare returns over several periodsone, three and five years, next to the benchmark, total return where possible.
4. Read the risk blockvolatility, beta, the riskometer and the deepest fall with its recovery time.
5. Add up the costexpense ratio or fees, exit load and turnover, for the plan you would actually buy.
6. Look through to the holdingsconcentration, overlap with what you already own, and valuation.

How this shows up in RupeeCase

Every RupeeCase strategy has a one page factsheet, print ready, with the rule, the model back test after estimated charges, the holdings on the latest list, the month by month record, the worst falls with days to recover, and the fee. Large Mid Hybrid is a good one to practise on: about 80% in a momentum rule on the Nifty LargeMidCap 250 and 20% in debt, 41 positions rebalanced every 2 weeks, from ₹2,49,000. Its model CAGR is 33.21% with a deepest fall of −18.27% and a Sharpe of 1.67, as of 27 Apr 2026. Open its factsheet and run the six steps above. Every figure on it is labelled model, back tested, with its date.

Questions investors ask