Scheme Information Document — Deep Dive
The Scheme Information Document (SID) is the detailed disclosure document for one scheme and sets the terms within which the scheme must be run. This lesson covers its main sections, the fundamental attributes and what happens when one of them changes.
What the SID is
Every scheme has its own SID. It is the detailed statement of what the scheme sets out to do and on what terms, and the asset management company (AMC) must run the scheme within what it states. With the Statement of Additional Information it forms the scheme's offer document.
The SID describes a scheme's risks. It does not remove them: the value of units can fall.
What is inside
The main sections are the investment objective, asset allocation, investment strategy, risk factors, fees and expenses, loads, benchmark and fund manager, along with the scheme's fundamental attributes.
Risk factors come in two groups. Standard risk factors apply to every mutual fund scheme, such as the NAV moving up or down with the market. Scheme-specific risk factors arise from the scheme's own strategy, such as concentration risk in a sectoral fund or credit risk in a debt fund.
On cost, the SID discloses the total expense ratio: base expense ratio plus brokerage, transaction cost and statutory levies.
Fundamental attributes
Fundamental attributes are the features that define what the investor bought. They are the type of scheme; its investment objective, including the asset allocation pattern; and its terms of issue, such as liquidity provisions and aggregate fees and expenses. Fees and expenses here are those charged to the scheme; an exit load is separate, being paid by the investor who redeems.
The name of the fund manager is not one of them. Replacing the fund manager, the registrar or the custodian is an operational change: a change of fund manager is disclosed, but it does not set off the process below.
When a fundamental attribute changes
A change in a fundamental attribute is not put to a unitholder vote. Instead the trustees first take SEBI's comments. Every unitholder then gets written notice, and unitholders may exit at the prevailing NAV with no exit load for at least 30 calendar days.
Routine updating is separate: the SID of an open-ended or interval scheme is updated half-yearly, and changes in between are issued as an addendum.
Rules at a glance
Two changes at one scheme (illustrative)
An open-ended equity scheme announces two changes in one month. First, its fund manager is replaced. The change is disclosed, but the fund manager's name is not a fundamental attribute, so no exit window follows.
Second, the fund house proposes to change the scheme's investment objective. That is a fundamental attribute. The trustees take SEBI's comments, each unitholder gets written notice, and for at least 30 calendar days any unitholder may redeem at the prevailing NAV with no exit load.
What the load-free exit is worth (illustrative)
- Assumptions for the arithmetic only: Devika holds 2,000 units of a scheme with a NAV of ₹50, and her units are still within the period in which an exit load of 1% applies.
- Value at NAV = 2,000 × ₹50 = ₹1,00,000.
- Normal redemption: repurchase price = NAV × (1 − exit load) = ₹50 × 0.99 = ₹49.50, so she receives 2,000 × ₹49.50 = ₹99,000.
- Redemption inside the exit window: no exit load, so she receives 2,000 × ₹50 = ₹1,00,000.
- Difference = ₹1,00,000 − ₹99,000 = ₹1,000.
Result. The window saves the ₹1,000 exit load. The NAV itself still moves with the market, and the redemption is a taxable event if there is a gain.
Key points
- The SID is the detailed disclosure document for a single scheme, and the AMC must run the scheme within its terms.
- Fundamental attributes are the type of scheme, the investment objective including the asset allocation pattern, and the terms of issue.
- A change in a fundamental attribute needs SEBI's comments (taken by the trustees), written notice to each unitholder and a load-free exit of at least 30 calendar days; there is no vote.
- Risk factors are of two kinds: standard and scheme-specific.
- A change of fund manager is disclosed but is not a fundamental attribute change.
Common misunderstandings
- A fundamental attribute change does not need a unitholder vote: the safeguard is written notice and a load-free exit of at least 30 calendar days.
- The 30 days are calendar days, not working days, and 30 is the minimum.
- A load-free exit is not a tax-free exit: redeeming in the window is a redemption like any other.
Questions people ask
Is the asset allocation pattern a fundamental attribute?
Yes. It is part of the investment objective, which is a fundamental attribute along with the type of scheme and the terms of issue.
At what price does a unitholder exit during the window?
At the prevailing NAV. Only the exit load is waived; the NAV itself is not protected.
How do standard and scheme-specific risk factors differ?
Standard risk factors are common to all schemes. Scheme-specific ones come from the scheme's own strategy, such as concentration in one sector or credit risk in debt holdings.
What this lesson relies on
- SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 2026 — provisions on offer documents and change in fundamental attributes; regulations 66 and 67 (expenses)
- SEBI Master Circular for Mutual Funds (20 March 2026) — contents and updating of the Scheme Information Document
This lesson was reviewed independently against these sources on 8 October 2026. Rules change: check the current regulation, scheme document or policy wording before relying on any figure. This is education, not advice.