The NIFTY fell 3.5% in a month. Every long-short SIF fell less.
Between 3 August and 2 September 2026 the NIFTY 50 lost 3.47%. Across the 30 Indian SIF schemes with a full month of published NAVs, not one lost that much — and 18 of them finished the month higher. Includes the full month-by-month return record for every scheme against the NIFTY.
The NIFTY 50 closed at 23,914.45 on 2 September 2026, down 3.47% from 24,774.30 on 3 August. That is the sharpest one-month fall the index has seen since the March correction, when it dropped 10.2% from its 2 March high of 24,865.70 to a 30 March low of 22,331.40.
It is also the first proper stress test for India's Specialized Investment Funds as a group. Thirty SIF schemes (direct plan, growth option) had a full month of NAV history covering the window. All thirty finished ahead of the index. Eighteen of them finished the month with a positive return outright.
The worst performer over the month, at -3.17%, still lost slightly less than the NIFTY did.
The full month, scheme by scheme
Returns are the change in published NAV from 3 August to 3 September 2026, direct plan, growth option. The benchmark row is the NIFTY 50 price index over the closest matching closes.
| Scheme | Category | 1M return |
|---|---|---|
| DynaSIF Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short | Equity Ex-Top 100 | +4.38% |
| Summit Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | +2.72% |
| qsif Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | +2.56% |
| qsif Active Asset Allocator Long-Short | Active Asset Allocator | +2.41% |
| qsif Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short | Equity Ex-Top 100 | +2.30% |
| qsif Sector Rotation Long-Short | Sector Rotation | +2.10% |
| iSIF Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | +1.98% |
| Apex Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | +1.59% |
| Infinity Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | +1.37% |
| Prism Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | +1.15% |
| Altiva Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | +0.97% |
| Altiva Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short | Equity Ex-Top 100 | +0.94% |
| RedHex Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | +0.89% |
| iSIF Active Asset Allocator Long-Short | Active Asset Allocator | +0.58% |
| qsif Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | +0.55% |
| DynaSIF Active Asset Allocator Long-Short | Active Asset Allocator | +0.51% |
| Arudha Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | +0.13% |
| Magnum Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | +0.05% |
| iSIF Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | -0.28% |
| Titanium Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | -0.37% |
| iSIF Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short | Equity Ex-Top 100 | -0.57% |
| Titanium Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | -0.59% |
| Platinum Hybrid Long-Short | Hybrid | -0.69% |
| Arudha Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | -1.02% |
| Sapphire Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | -1.46% |
| WSIF Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short | Equity Ex-Top 100 | -1.73% |
| DynaSIF Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | -2.07% |
| Diviniti Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | -2.22% |
| WSIF Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | -2.72% |
| Arthaya Equity Long-Short | Equity Long-Short | -3.17% |
| NIFTY 50 | benchmark | -3.47% |
Hybrids cushioned, equity long-shorts took the hit
Splitting the same window by SEBI category makes the pattern clearer.
| Category | Schemes | Median 1M | Best | Worst |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hybrid Long-Short | 11 | +0.89% | +2.56% | -0.69% |
| Active Asset Allocator Long-Short | 3 | +0.58% | +2.41% | +0.51% |
| Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short | 5 | +0.94% | +4.38% | -1.73% |
| Equity Long-Short | 10 | -1.02% | +2.72% | -3.17% |
None of this is mysterious. A hybrid long-short mandate carries a large debt sleeve and a structurally lower net equity exposure, so a falling index reaches less of the portfolio. The equity long-short category runs a higher net long by design; when the market falls, a fund that is 60% net long mechanically gives back roughly 60% of the index move before stock selection and the short book do anything at all. The month reads exactly as the mandates would predict.
The Ex-Top 100 category is the interesting exception. It sits between the two on the median, but has by far the widest range — 6.1 percentage points separating DynaSIF's +4.38% from WSIF's -1.73% inside what is nominally the same strategy. Beyond the top 100 names, the opportunity set is wide enough that two managers with the same mandate can end up in genuinely different portfolios.
Every month, every scheme
The month above is one observation. Here is the whole record — calendar-month NAV returns for all 30 schemes with at least one complete month, against the NIFTY 50 over the same months. A dash means the scheme had not yet completed that calendar month. September is excluded; it is two sessions old.
| Scheme | Nov 25 | Dec 25 | Jan 26 | Feb 26 | Mar 26 | Apr 26 | May 26 | Jun 26 | Jul 26 | Aug 26 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| qsif Equity L/S | -0.23 | -0.58 | -3.32 | +0.82 | -8.95 | +13.68 | +2.07 | +2.57 | +4.23 | +1.23 |
| qsif Hybrid L/S | -0.38 | -0.08 | -1.29 | +0.48 | -0.91 | +6.94 | -1.02 | +1.63 | +3.26 | +1.73 |
| Altiva Hybrid L/S | +1.01 | +1.71 | +0.13 | +0.71 | -1.53 | +3.17 | +1.14 | +1.37 | +1.77 | +1.14 |
| Magnum Hybrid L/S | +1.24 | +0.95 | -0.83 | +0.77 | -2.16 | +2.28 | +0.68 | +1.36 | +0.93 | +0.92 |
| qsif Ex-Top 100 L/S | — | -1.49 | -4.69 | -0.90 | -7.60 | +15.38 | +1.45 | +4.28 | +7.70 | +2.28 |
| Diviniti Equity L/S | — | — | -1.23 | -1.37 | -2.99 | +0.71 | -3.92 | +2.40 | +0.34 | -0.24 |
| Titanium Hybrid L/S | — | — | -1.02 | +1.42 | -6.87 | +5.51 | +0.55 | +1.77 | +0.73 | +0.70 |
| Arudha Hybrid L/S | — | — | — | — | +0.12 | +0.38 | +0.22 | +1.60 | +0.47 | +0.20 |
| iSIF Ex-Top 100 L/S | — | — | — | — | -8.61 | +8.87 | +1.32 | +1.41 | +3.07 | +0.58 |
| iSIF Hybrid L/S | — | — | — | — | -7.31 | +7.45 | +0.02 | +3.00 | +3.22 | +2.08 |
| DynaSIF Equity L/S | — | — | — | — | -4.39 | +6.59 | +1.29 | +1.77 | +2.17 | -0.04 |
| Apex Hybrid L/S | — | — | — | — | — | +0.40 | +0.50 | +1.91 | +2.61 | +2.09 |
| Arudha Equity L/S | — | — | — | — | — | +3.42 | -0.85 | +2.15 | +2.41 | +0.36 |
| DynaSIF Asset Allocator L/S | — | — | — | — | — | +1.02 | +0.58 | +1.47 | +1.00 | +1.28 |
| qsif Asset Allocator L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | +2.77 | +2.57 | +8.26 | +1.02 |
| Sapphire Equity L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | -0.83 | +1.17 | +1.07 | +0.39 |
| WSIF Equity L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +5.05 | +2.57 | -0.54 |
| WSIF Ex-Top 100 L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +6.07 | +2.15 | +0.73 |
| qsif Sector Rotation L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +1.42 | -0.87 | +1.73 |
| Titanium Equity L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +1.28 | +3.37 | +1.44 |
| Arthaya Equity L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +0.94 | +0.71 | -1.04 |
| iSIF Asset Allocator L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +2.30 | +1.32 |
| iSIF Equity L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +3.05 | +4.10 |
| Altiva Ex-Top 100 L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +2.25 | +3.60 |
| Platinum Hybrid L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +1.01 | +0.47 |
| RedHex Hybrid L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +0.72 | +0.87 |
| DynaSIF Ex-Top 100 L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +4.40 | +6.40 |
| Infinity Hybrid L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +1.61 |
| Prism Hybrid L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +1.41 |
| Summit Equity L/S | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | +3.62 |
| NIFTY 50 | +1.87 | -0.28 | -3.10 | -0.56 | -11.31 | +7.46 | -1.87 | +1.35 | +2.17 | -1.24 |
| Schemes ahead of NIFTY | 0 of 4 | 3 of 5 | 5 of 7 | 5 of 7 | 11 of 11 | 3 of 14 | 15 of 16 | 18 of 21 | 14 of 27 | 30 of 30 |
Two months carry most of the information in that grid.
March 2026 was the real test: the NIFTY lost 11.31%, and all eleven schemes then live beat it — by a median of roughly 7 percentage points. Only one, Arudha Hybrid Long-Short, finished the month positive, at +0.12%. Whatever else the category has or has not proved, it did not fall with the index when the index fell hardest.
April 2026 is the bill for that. The NIFTY rebounded 7.46% and only 3 of 14 schemes kept up — qsif Ex-Top 100 (+15.38%), qsif Equity Long-Short (+13.68%) and iSIF Ex-Top 100 (+8.87%). The other eleven captured part of the move and no more. A book that is hedged going into a crash is, by construction, hedged going into the recovery too.
The bottom row makes the asymmetry plain. In the four months the NIFTY fell more than 1% — January, March, May and August — SIFs ahead of the index numbered 5 of 7, 11 of 11, 15 of 16 and 30 of 30. In the two strongest up months, April and July, they numbered 3 of 14 and 14 of 27. That is the trade these funds are structurally making, visible in ten rows of arithmetic.
Read the numbers with the caveats attached
- These are young funds. Every scheme above launched within the last eleven months; the oldest NAV series in the SIF universe starts in October 2025. A single month tells you about one month.
- One down-month is not a hedging record. Falling less than the index during a 3.5% decline is what a partially-hedged book is supposed to do. The same structure gives up part of the upside in a rally — the quarter before it tells that side of the story.
- Direct plans only. Regular-plan NAVs carry distributor commission and will differ.
- Not annualised. With under a year of history, annualising a one-month number would be meaningless.
Full NAV histories, category comparisons and a return-attribution breakdown for every scheme are on the SIFintel dashboard and the attribution page.
*Source: AMFI SIF NAV disclosures as at 3 September 2026; NIFTY 50 closing levels as at 2 September
- Past performance is not indicative of future results.*