FinLensEducational information, not advice. This guide explains how things generally work in India as of the date above. Rules, rates and limits change; check the official sources listed at the end, and speak to a SEBI-registered investment adviser or a tax professional about your own situation.
The short answer
A mutual fund holding is a number of units in one plan of one scheme. Its value is those units multiplied by the latest net asset value (NAV) of that plan. Its return depends on what you paid and when: for a single investment, the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) is enough, but for SIPs and anything else with several payments in or out you need XIRR, which allows for how long each rupee was invested.
An accurate tracker therefore needs three records: every transaction with its date, amount and units; the NAV of the exact plan and option you hold, direct or regular, growth or IDCW; and the dates and amounts of all money in and out. The sections below take each in turn, with a worked example of the three ways of measuring a return.
How units are worked out
Units allotted are the amount invested divided by the NAV, after deductions. Since 1 July 2020 a stamp duty of 0.005% has applied to purchases, SIP instalments, switch-ins and reinvested IDCW, and units are allotted on the amount left after it. ₹10,000 invested at a NAV of ₹40 therefore buys a shade under 250 units, because ₹0.50 goes in stamp duty. The fund house must confirm the units allotted by e-mail or SMS within five working days.
Every transaction changes the count. Purchases and SIP instalments add units; redemptions remove them; a switch is a redemption from one scheme and a purchase in another; reinvested IDCW adds units, while IDCW paid out does not change them. A tracker that misses one of these will show the wrong number of units from then on.
Each plan and option of a scheme is a separate line with its own identifiers. AMFI's daily NAV file lists every one with a scheme code, an ISIN, its plan and option, the NAV and the NAV date, and SEBI requires fund houses to quote the ISIN on your statements. Matching your holdings by these identifiers, rather than by name, avoids valuing a regular plan at the direct plan's NAV.
Direct and regular plans
Every scheme must offer a direct plan for money invested without a distributor. SEBI's rules say it shall have a lower expense ratio, because no distribution commission is paid from it, and a NAV of its own; no fee in a direct plan may be higher than the same fee in the regular plan. A regular plan pays the distributor's commission out of the scheme's expenses, so its expense ratio is higher and its NAV grows a little more slowly than the direct plan's.
Under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 2026, in force from 1 April 2026 in place of the 1996 regulations, a scheme's total expense ratio (TER) is its base expense ratio plus brokerage, transaction costs and statutory levies including GST. Fund houses must publish every scheme's TER daily on their websites and on AMFI's. Your half-yearly consolidated account statement shows, for each scheme you hold, the commission paid to your distributor in rupees and the scheme's average TER for your plan.
For tracking, treat the two plans as two different holdings. They have different NAVs and scheme codes, and their returns over the same period differ by roughly the gap in their expenses.
Absolute return, CAGR and XIRR, with a worked example
Absolute return is the gain as a share of what you put in: (current value − amount invested) ÷ amount invested. It ignores time. AMFI's investor-education site, Mutual Funds Sahi Hai, notes that it is used for funds less than a year old, with an annualised return used otherwise.
CAGR annualises a single investment: (end value ÷ start value) raised to the power of 1 ÷ years, minus 1. ₹1,00,000 invested once that grows to ₹1,50,000 in four years is an absolute return of 50% but a CAGR of about 10.7% a year.
XIRR, the extended internal rate of return, is the single yearly rate at which all your dated payments in, any redemptions or payouts, and today's value balance out. It is an annualised return for money that went in at different times, which makes it the right measure for SIPs. Spreadsheets compute it with an XIRR function from a column of dates and a column of amounts, payments in as negative figures and the current value as positive.
A worked example (made-up figures)
You invest ₹10,000 on the 5th of every month from January to December 2025, twelve instalments and ₹1,20,000 in all. On 5 January 2026 the holding is worth ₹1,32,000. The example ignores stamp duty.
| Measure | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Absolute return | ₹12,000 ÷ ₹1,20,000 | 10% |
| CAGR from the first instalment | (₹1,32,000 ÷ ₹1,20,000) over one year, minus 1 | 10%, misleading here |
| XIRR | The rate that balances twelve payments of ₹10,000 against ₹1,32,000 on 5 January 2026 | about 18.9% a year |
The CAGR figure treats all ₹1,20,000 as invested for the whole year, but the last instalment was invested for one month. On average each rupee was at work for about six and a half months, and a gain of ₹12,000 over that time annualises to about 18.9%. Had the whole ₹1,20,000 gone in on 5 January 2025 and grown to the same ₹1,32,000, the XIRR and the CAGR would both be 10%. Annualised figures over short periods swing widely, so read an XIRR covering only a few months with care.
Where your holdings are officially recorded
- Consolidated account statement (CAS) for mutual funds. For every month in which you have a transaction, a CAS covering all your folios across fund houses, linked by your PAN, is issued by the 15th of the following month. Every six months, for the periods ending September and March, a CAS goes to every investor with holdings by the 21st of the following month, showing the cost of investment in each scheme, the distributor's commission and the TER. You can also ask for a CAS covering all your funds at any time from CAMS or KFintech, the two qualified registrars; it is e-mailed to the address registered in your folios.
- CAS from NSDL or CDSL. If you have a demat account, the depository sends one statement covering your demat holdings and your mutual fund folios: monthly when there has been a transaction, otherwise every six months.
- MF Central. A platform the registrars built together, through which you can see holdings across fund houses, download transaction and capital gains reports, and raise service requests.
- Your platform's order history. An investment app's export is convenient, but it covers only what was bought through that app.
The CAS is the record to reconcile against. If a tracker's units for a scheme do not match the CAS, a transaction is missing or entered against the wrong plan.
How to keep a tracker accurate
- Record every transaction, not only purchases: SIP instalments, redemptions, switches as a sale and a purchase, and IDCW paid out or reinvested.
- Hold the exact plan and option. The direct growth and regular IDCW versions of one scheme are different holdings with different NAVs; match them by AMFI scheme code or ISIN.
- Add an opening balance when your records begin after your first purchase, using the units and cost shown on your CAS.
- Note the NAV date. For most schemes the day's NAV is published by 11 p.m., so a value you check during the day uses the previous business day's NAV.
- Reconcile with the CAS at least when the half-yearly statement arrives.
- Do not count orders twice when you import a longer history over a shorter one.
How FinLens tracks mutual funds
FinLens builds your holdings from Groww's mutual fund order history, the XLSX or CSV export, which you upload. Orders from other platforms can be added by hand, including an opening balance for units bought before your export begins; a CAMS portfolio valuation statement (PDF) is read too, and the units it prints are set against your orders; other platforms' exports and consolidated account statements (CAS) have no reader of their own.
Each scheme is matched to its AMFI scheme code, so direct and regular plans stay separate, and valued at the NAV AMFI publishes, fetched at 23:15 IST on working days. Redemptions are matched against your oldest units first, the realised gain on each is kept, and XIRR is worked out from the date and amount of every order, for each scheme, for your funds together and for your whole portfolio. Repeated monthly purchases are recognised as running SIPs. Gains are shown before tax. See Mutual funds and Investments for what the pages show.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between XIRR and CAGR?
CAGR annualises one investment from a start value to an end value. XIRR annualises many dated payments in and out, so it is the measure for SIPs; for a single lump sum with no other flows, the two give the same answer.
Why did my SIP get the next day's NAV?
For most schemes you get the NAV of the day your money is in the scheme's account and available for use, with 3 p.m. as the cut-off. Money that arrives after 3 p.m., or on a non-business day, gets the next business day's NAV.
Do direct and regular plans of the same fund have the same NAV?
No. A direct plan pays no distribution commission, so it has a lower expense ratio and its own NAV, which grows a little faster than the regular plan's. Track them as separate holdings.
What is a CAS and how do I get one?
A consolidated account statement lists all your mutual fund folios under your PAN. It is issued for every month in which you transact and every six months to everyone with holdings; with a demat account, NSDL or CDSL sends one covering both.
Why does my tracker show a different value from my app?
Usually a different NAV date, a missing transaction, or a holding matched to the wrong plan or option. Compare the units for each scheme with your latest CAS.
Sources
- Master Circular for Mutual Funds (20 March 2026), Securities and Exchange Board of India
- Securities and Exchange Board of India (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 2026, SEBI
- Net Asset Value, Association of Mutual Funds in India
- Total Expense Ratio of mutual fund schemes, Association of Mutual Funds in India
- Know what is absolute return, Mutual Funds Sahi Hai (AMFI)
- Know your CAS, NSDL
- Consolidated Account Statement, CAMS
- Stamp duty on mutual fund transactions, Nippon India Mutual Fund