Sebi tweaks benchmarking norms for MFs, brings in uniformity

Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has tweaked the benchmarking norms for mutual fund (MF) schemes in a bid to bring more uniformity.

The regulator has introduced a two-tiered structure for benchmarking of schemes and all the benchmarks followed should be total return index (TRI).

According to the circular, the first-tier benchmark shall be reflective of the category of the scheme, and the second-tier benchmark should be demonstrative of the fund manager's investment style or strategy within the category.

For income and debt-oriented schemes the first-tier benchmark could be a broad market index like Nifty ultra-short duration debt index