How our data is built

Scheme classification (the SEBI taxonomy)

Every mutual-fund scheme on ProfitGuruOnline is placed in the canonical SEBI sub-category set out in the Categorization and Rationalization of Mutual Fund Schemes circular (SEBI/HO/IMD/DF3/CIR/P/2017/114, dated 6 October 2017) and subsequent amendments. The 36 SEBI categories span Equity (Large Cap, Mid Cap, ELSS, Flexi Cap, etc.), Debt (Liquid, Corporate Bond, Gilt, etc.), Hybrid (Aggressive Hybrid, Balanced Advantage, Arbitrage, etc.), Solution-Oriented (Retirement, Children's), and Other Schemes (Index Funds, ETFs, Fund of Funds).

The category for each scheme is read directly from AMFI's daily NAVAll.txt — every section header in that file (for example, Open Ended Schemes(Equity Scheme - Large Cap Fund)) is the official SEBI category for every scheme listed under it. We do not infer the category from the scheme name.

Sub-classification of "Other Schemes"

AMFI's "Other Schemes" header groups Index Funds, ETFs, and Fund of Funds together. That is too coarse for meaningful peer comparison — a Nifty 50 Index Fund is not a peer of a CRISIL-IBX Debt Index Fund. ProfitGuruOnline therefore adds a second-layer classification on top of the SEBI category:

• Equity — Broad market: Nifty 50, Sensex, Nifty 100/500, BSE 500 trackers.
• Equity — Mid & small: Nifty Next 50, Midcap 150, Smallcap 250 trackers.
• Equity — Sectoral / Thematic: Bank, IT, Pharma, Auto, FMCG, Energy, PSU trackers.
• Equity — Smart beta / Factor: Equal Weight, Low Vol, Momentum, Alpha, Quality, Value trackers.
• Debt index / Target maturity: CRISIL-IBX, Bharat Bond, Nifty SDL, Nifty PSU Bond, G-Sec Index, T-Bill Index.
• Commodity — Gold: Gold ETFs and Gold FoFs.
• Commodity — Silver: Silver ETFs and Silver FoFs.
• Overseas: S&P 500, Nasdaq, MSCI, Hang Seng, US/China/Japan/Global feeders.

Peer comparison

"Peers" on a scheme page means funds that satisfy all of the following:

1. Same SEBI sub-category.
2. Same sub-classification, where applicable (so an equity Nifty 50 tracker is not paired with a debt CRISIL-IBX tracker).
3. Same income mode — Growth schemes are compared with Growth, IDCW (Income Distribution cum Capital Withdrawal) schemes with IDCW.
4. Same plan type — Direct plans are compared with Direct, Regular with Regular. (Direct plans typically outperform Regular plans by around 50 basis points per year because they carry no distributor commission, so mixing the two is misleading.)
5. One fund per AMC, biased toward the major Indian fund houses (HDFC, Nippon, SBI, ICICI Prudential, Axis, Kotak, Aditya Birla Sun Life, Mirae, Motilal Oswal, DSP, UTI, Edelweiss, Bandhan, Quant, Franklin India, Invesco, HSBC, Baroda BNP Paribas, Canara Robeco, PGIM, PPFAS).

If the strict filter does not yield enough peers, the matching relaxes in this order: drop plan-type, then sub-classification, then income mode. The SEBI sub-category is never relaxed — that is the boundary of "comparable."

Returns computation

Periodic returns (1D, 1W, 1M, 3M, 6M, 1Y, 3Y, 5Y) on each scheme page are computed from the scheme's NAV history. For each window N, we find the NAV record closest to today − N days; if that record is within a tolerance band (15% of N, capped at 60 days), the return is reported. Otherwise the window shows "—". This avoids reporting misleading returns when the underlying NAV history is incomplete.

Returns are point-to-point and not annualised below 1Y. The 3Y and 5Y figures are cumulative (not CAGR) on the scheme page; we plan to add CAGR alongside.

NAV charts

Charts on scheme pages display NAV history over the last two years. Each fund's data is downsampled to a maximum of 150 points using even-stride sampling to keep the page fast as history accumulates. First and last points are always retained. For the multi-fund peer-comparison chart, all series are normalised to a base of 100 at the first shared data point — this makes funds with very different absolute NAVs visually comparable.

Unit split / consolidation handling

AMCs occasionally consolidate a scheme's units — most commonly a 10:1 ratio that multiplies the NAV by 10 while dividing the investor's unit count by 10. The investor's portfolio value is unchanged; only the per-unit NAV scale resets. Raw NAV history reads this as a 10× single-day return, which (left unhandled) propagates absurd 70%+ CAGR figures and 4× SIP multipliers into our metrics.

Our nightly compute scans every fund's NAV history for one-day ratio events within ±5% of a clean multiplier {2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 1000}, validates with a next-day sanity check, and rebuilds a split-adjusted NAV series in which pre-split values are multiplied by the consolidation ratio so the series becomes continuous through the event. All downstream metrics — point-to-point returns, calendar-year returns, rolling returns, SIP simulations, Sharpe / Sortino / max drawdown — are computed on the adjusted series, so they reflect what an investor's portfolio would have shown.

Detected events are stored and visible on the unit splits log. Affected funds carry a notice on their detail page so the user can see exactly what adjustment was applied.

Data freshness

• NAVs — ingested daily at ~22:30 IST after AMFI publishes the day's NAV file.
• SEBI categorisation — synced daily at ~22:50 IST from the same AMFI file.
• News headlines — refreshed every 30 minutes from the source RSS feed.
• Sitemap — regenerated daily at ~23:15 IST.

Every data page shows the date of the underlying NAV record — for NAV data, the "As of" line is the latest NAV date in our database.

What we do not do

• We do not assign star ratings or buy/sell recommendations on individual schemes or stocks.
• We do not run paid placements or sponsored fund rankings.
• We do not adjust returns for the impact of exit load or taxation. Investors should consult their tax adviser for the post-tax picture.