Where a Scheme's Facts Are Found: SID, KIM, Factsheet
A scheme's facts sit in a small set of documents. This lesson explains what the SID, SAI, KIM, portfolio disclosure and factsheet each contain, how they are kept up to date, and what none of them can tell a reader.
The offer document: SID and SAI
The Scheme Information Document (SID) describes the scheme itself: its investment objective, how it may allocate its assets, its risk factors, loads, expenses and benchmark. The Statement of Additional Information (SAI) covers the fund house and its constituents. Together the two form the offer document.
The Key Information Memorandum (KIM) is a summary of the scheme's terms. It accompanies every application form, so that a person applying has the main terms in hand.
How the documents are kept current
A scheme runs for years, and its details change. The SID is updated every half-year, within two months of the end of September and of March. The KIM is updated within two months of each half-year end, and the SAI within three months of the end of the financial year.
A change that arises between two updates is issued as an addendum, which is read together with the SID. A change to a scheme's fundamental attributes goes further: unitholders get written notice and at least 30 calendar days to exit at NAV without exit load.
What the scheme may do, and what it is doing
The SID states what a scheme may do. The portfolio disclosure, published monthly and half-yearly, shows what it actually did: the securities held at the end of the period and the proportion of each.
The factsheet is the fund house's periodic snapshot of a scheme: what it holds, how it has performed against its benchmark, its expense ratio and its riskometer level. An investor's own transactions appear in a different paper, the account statement.
None of these documents can say how a scheme will perform. They describe terms, holdings and past results, and a market-linked scheme can lose value.
Rules at a glance
Permitted range and actual holding (illustrative)
The SID of an illustrative scheme says it may hold between 65% and 100% of its assets in equity. That is the scheme's permitted range, and it stays the same until the document is changed.
The latest portfolio disclosure shows that the scheme held 88% in equity at the month-end, and names each company and its weight. The factsheet for the same month repeats the main holdings and adds performance against the benchmark, the expense ratio and the riskometer level. The three documents answer three different questions: what is allowed, what is held, and how it has gone so far.
Key points
- The SID gives a scheme's objective, asset allocation, risk factors, loads, expenses and benchmark; with the SAI it forms the offer document.
- The KIM is a summary of the scheme's terms and accompanies every application form.
- The SID is updated half-yearly; a change in between is issued as an addendum.
- The portfolio disclosure lists actual holdings; the factsheet is a periodic snapshot of portfolio, performance and costs.
- No document can say how a scheme will perform.
Common misunderstandings
- The KIM is not the full offer document: it is a summary, and the scheme's full terms sit in the SID.
- The SID is not updated only once a year: it is updated every half-year, with addenda in between.
- A factsheet is not a forecast: it is a snapshot of holdings, past performance and costs.
Questions people ask
Where are a scheme's loads and expenses stated?
In the Scheme Information Document, along with its objective, asset allocation, risk factors and benchmark.
What does the Statement of Additional Information cover?
The fund house and its constituents, as distinct from the terms of any one scheme.
Which document shows what a scheme actually holds?
The portfolio disclosure, published monthly and half-yearly. It lists each security and its proportion at the end of the period.
What this lesson relies on
- SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 2026
- SEBI Master Circular for Mutual Funds, 20 March 2026 (offer documents, portfolio disclosure, fundamental attributes)
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.