A mutual fund whose prospectus allows for more than one portfolio. Portfolios may be specialized (Sector Fund) or broad (growth stock, along with a money market portfolio). Management can create additional portfolios as it sees fit.

 A mutual fund specializing in the securities of a particular industry or group of industries or special types of securities.

 Moving money from one scheme to another with in the fund family. See Exchange privilege.

 Many mutual funds offer withdrawal programs whereby shareholders receive payments from their investments. These payments are usually drawn from the fund's dividend income and capital gain distributions, if any, and from principal only when necessary.

 An equity scheme that invests in shares of companies operating in specific sector or industries is called a sector fund. For instance, a pharma fund would invest only in pharmaceutical companies.

 The Sharpe ratio, provided by Lipper, is based on a risk-adjusted measure developed by Nobel Laureate William Sharpe. It is calculated using standard deviation and excess return to determine reward per unit of risk. First, the average monthly return of the 90-day Treasury bill (over a 36-month period) is subtracted from the fund's average monthly return. The difference in total return represents the fund's excess return beyond that of the 90-day Treasury bill, a risk-free investment. An arithmetic annualized excess return is then calculated by multiplying this monthly return by 12. To show a relationship between excess return and risk, this number is then divided by the standard deviation of the fund's annualized excess returns. The higher the Sharpe ratio, the better the fund's historical risk-adjusted performance.

 Standard deviation is a statistical measure of the range of a fund's performance. When a fund has a high standard deviation, its range of performance has been very wide, indicating that there is a greater potential for volatility. The standard deviation figure provided here is an annualized statistic based on 36 monthly returns. By definition, approximately 68% of the time, the total returns of any given fund are expected to differ from its mean total return by no more than plus or minus the standard deviation figure. Ninety-five percent of the time, a fund's total returns should be within a range of plus or minus two times the standard deviation from its mean. These ranges assume that a fund's returns fall in a typical bell-shaped distribution. In any case, the greater the standard deviation, the greater the fund's volatility.

 This indicates the smallest permissible additional purchase a fund will accept in an existing account.

 Systematic Investment Plan popularly known as SIP is a method of investing a fixed sum regularly in a mutual fund scheme. It is very similar to regular saving schemes like a recurring deposit. SIP allows one to buy units on a given date at regular interval, so that one can implement a saving plan for themselves. A SIP is generally preferred for an equity scheme and can be started with as small as Rs 500 per month.