SIF Performance, October 2026: Every Live SIF Compared, and How They Stack Up Against Mutual Funds

What has changed since August

Three things moved. The category got much bigger. AMFI shows ₹38,287 crore across 34 schemes and 17 fund houses at 30 September 2026, with 1,56,483 folios. INDmoney, citing AMFI, put end-August assets at ₹31,175 crore, so industry assets grew about ₹7,100 crore (roughly 23%) in a month. Our AMFI report card has the full breakdown.

New schemes keep arriving. Four more offers have opened or closed since the 34-scheme count, and SIFPrime now counts 38 strategies across 19 fund houses once they are included:

Returns cooled. In the table below only 4 of 25 schemes are up over the last month and 10 of 25 over the last three months, yet 21 of 25 are still above their launch price. The biggest schemes are hybrid: Altiva Hybrid averaged about ₹8,322 crore and Magnum Hybrid about ₹3,899 crore over the September quarter (SIFPrime report via Cafemutual). AMFI puts Hybrid Long-Short at 62.6% of all SIF assets.

Every live SIF with a return history

This is the full set of schemes that a public tracker showed with an October NAV history. Nine more are live, but have no return row in that tracker; they are listed after the table.

The fairest comparison: the same three months

Since-launch returns are not comparable, because a scheme that started in October 2025 has lived through a different market from one that started in June 2026. Three-month returns use the same dates for everyone:

The picture is a cluster near zero with a few funds well to the right. The middle scheme returned −0.9% over three months, and −1.3% if you leave out Quant's five schemes. Equity Long-Short is the weakest group (median −3.7%), Hybrid Long-Short the steadiest apart from Quant (median +0.4%). The weakest result since launch is ITI's Diviniti Equity Long-Short at −12.8%.

How SIFs compare with mutual funds

A fair answer has two halves, and they point in slightly different directions.

1. Against the market index they are measured by

Cafemutual, using a SIFPrime report, compared four SIFs with their benchmarks over six months and said all four were ahead:

Source: Cafemutual, 14 Oct 2026 (SIFPrime data). The article's own table labels are not fully consistent, so treat the figures as a guide. It also notes that SIFs are judged against long-only indices because no better yardstick exists, which is not a like-for-like test.

Staying ahead of an index in a falling stretch is what a hedged fund is built to do. The same funds are not expected to keep up in a strong rally. Our global long-short record shows that trade-off over decades.

2. Against the mutual funds people use for steadier returns

Upstox (with ACE MF data) lined two hybrid long-short SIFs up against arbitrage and balanced advantage funds in August:

Source: Upstox, 24 Aug 2026; returns to 21 Aug 2026, assets to 31 Jul 2026. *Standard deviation as the article reports it: lower means a smoother ride. Direct plans are shown for the mutual funds and Regular for the SIFs, so the return gap is slightly overstated in the mutual funds' favour. The article says the funds were picked for illustration.

What this shows: the SIFs ran a middle level of ups and downs (0.21 to 0.23), more than arbitrage funds (0.07) but less than balanced advantage funds (0.46 to 0.61). Arbitrage funds returned about 6.8% in FY26 with almost no wobble, a useful yardstick for any hybrid SIF given its ₹10 lakh minimum and less frequent redemption. Both SIFs started in October 2025, so their FY26 returns cover only about half a year.

Direct or Regular: check which one you are reading

Direct and Regular plans hold the same portfolio. The difference is the yearly cost, because Regular plans pay a distributor. That cost slowly lowers the Regular return, so a quote without the plan name can mislead. The table above is Regular Growth throughout. SIFPrime's July table was for Direct plans, so figures from the two are not directly comparable. Compare Direct with Direct and Regular with Regular.

Criteria before you invest

A good return in the table above is not a reason to start. These are the checks to make first.

Who can invest

The minimum is ₹10 lakh per PAN, counted across all of one fund house's SIF strategies, not per scheme. SEBI-defined accredited investors are exempt. Neither the AMC nor a distributor can lower it.

Which category fits you

Source: SIFPrime, 16 Oct 2026. These are the site's descriptions and suggested horizons, not our advice and not SEBI rules.

How easily you can get your money out

Source: SIFPrime, 16 Oct 2026; SEBI's September 2026 investor FAQ as cited by INDmoney. Always confirm in the scheme document.

Your checklist

• Is ₹10 lakh a small slice? Many advisers keep one non-core bet to roughly 10 to 15% of what you can invest. Our ₹10 lakh framework shows the maths.
• Can I explain what it does in one sentence? If the long and short parts are a mystery, read our plain-English guide first.
• What was its net equity exposure? Ask for average long, short and net exposure (not just the label). A Quant factsheet for July, as INDmoney reported it, showed about 41% long, 8% short and 33% net.
• How long has it existed? Every SIF is under a year old. Treat any return as a first impression.
• What does it cost? Check the expense ratio for your plan (Direct or Regular) and the exit load in the scheme document. Examples reported in August: 0.50% if sold within 15 days for Magnum and within 30 days for Altiva.
• When can I get out? Daily, twice a week, weekly? Hybrid and debt SIFs cannot offer daily redemption, and a notice period of up to 15 working days is possible.
• How will it be taxed? It depends on what the fund holds, not its label. Read our tax guide.
• Does it overlap with what I already own? Run your funds through the free analyzer first. See also SIF overlap with mutual funds.

What the March 2026 fall showed

SIFPrime calls the March 2026 fall, when the Nifty dropped 11.30%, the category's first stress test. It reports that the gap between the best and worst Hybrid Long-Short fund over that period was more than 8 percentage points, even though they share a label. That gap is the useful lesson: a hedged label does not guarantee a hedged result. Ask any fund how it behaved in that month, not only what it has returned since launch.

How we built this, and what is missing

We took returns from the MeraSIP tracker (the only one we found that shows NAV-based returns for 25 schemes together and says how it calculates them), then compared them with a second tracker dated 16 Oct. The two agree to within 1 percentage point for 22 of 25 schemes since launch and differ by up to about 2 points for a few (some fund houses publish NAVs with a delay, and one tracker's since-launch figure for one scheme did not match its own NAV). So read the decimals as approximate. Neither tracker is an official source: the official daily NAVs are on AMFI.

These nine schemes are live but have no return row in the tracker we used. Several are only weeks old:

Scheme list reconciled to AMFI's 34 live schemes at 30 Sep 2026 (see our SIF funds list). Launch months from SIFPrime where shown; exact dates for some were not confirmed.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which SIF has the highest returns in October 2026?

On third-party tracker data to 15 October 2026, Quant's qSIF Hybrid Long-Short Fund leads with about +29.2% since launch (Regular plan), followed by qSIF Active Asset Allocator at about +28.8% and qSIF Equity Ex-Top 100 at about +11.4%. No other tracked scheme is above +9.5%. All are under about 12 months old, so this ranking can change quickly.

Which SIF has performed worst?

ITI's Diviniti Equity Long-Short Fund shows about −12.8% since launch, followed by Franklin Templeton's Sapphire Equity Long-Short at about −4.2% and Union's Arthaya Equity Long-Short at about −3.0% (tracker data to 15 October 2026). Short histories mean these figures can move fast in either direction.

How many SIFs are there in India now?

AMFI reported 34 SIF schemes with assets across 17 fund houses at 30 September 2026. Four more offers have opened since: Tata Titanium Active Asset Allocator and Mahindra Manulife MSIF Equity Long-Short (both closed), and Invesco Summit Active Asset Allocator and AlphaGrep Eminence Hybrid Long-Short (open until 26 and 28 October). SIFPrime counts 38 strategies across 19 fund houses including these.

Do SIFs beat mutual funds?

It is too early to say. Over six months to about September 2026, Cafemutual reported four SIFs ahead of their long-only benchmarks. In August, two hybrid long-short SIFs showed more ups and downs than arbitrage funds but less than balanced advantage funds. No SIF has a full year of history, and results differ widely between SIFs in the same category.

What is the minimum investment in a SIF?

₹10 lakh per PAN, aggregated across all SIF strategies of one fund house. SEBI-defined accredited investors are exempt. Distributors and fund houses cannot reduce it.

Are these Direct or Regular plan returns?

The table on this page uses Regular Growth plans. Direct plans hold the same portfolio at a lower cost, so Direct returns are slightly higher. Always compare like with like.

Disclaimer: This article is for education only and is not investment advice or a recommendation of any scheme. Returns are from third-party trackers and a news report as of the dates shown, change daily, and may differ from official AMFI NAVs. Past performance, especially over under a year, does not indicate future results. SIFs carry market risk including loss of capital, use derivatives and short positions, and may limit how often you can redeem. Read the scheme information document and consult a SEBI-registered investment adviser before investing.