Many mutual fund investors invest a lumpsum amount to take benefit of sudden and sharp market movements. And they want to get the same day’s NAV when they invest. But this isn’t as easy as it might seem now.
As I wrote in detail in the post Which date NAV you get for mutual funds? rules for NAV allotment have been changed. Now whenever you invest in any mutual fund, then you will get the NAV of the day when the invested amount actually reaches AMC’s bank account and not the day you invest at your end based on cut-off timing rules. So even though SEBI has defined the cut-off timings for NAV applicability (as detailed in this post – latest mutual fund cut off timing rules), the concept of cut off time becomes less relevant as the scheme units will be allotted to the investor only after the realization of funds at the AMC level.
Further Reading – You may not get MF units at your investment day’s NAV
As you might already know, there are different ways to invest in mutual funds – like Net-banking, IMPS, NEFT/RTGS, UPI, Cheque, etc.
Different modes have different speeds of execution and hence, you need to be careful about which option you chose when you want to get the same day’s NAV.
- It’s not a surprise that investment via Cheque is the slowest. It takes 1-3 days for cheque clearance and transfer of money to AMC’s bank account. So you will only get the NAV after that.
- Net banking is a pretty fast option. And chances are that if you invest via net-banking before the cutoff timing, you will get the same day’s NAV. But it’s not guaranteed. It also depends on whether the fund house has a tie-up with the bank you are using for Netbanking. In case the bank account you use does not have a tie-up with the fund house, then you can expect a delay of 1-2 days in funds reaching the fund house. And your NAV allotment will be accordingly delayed.
- NEFT and RTGS are also pretty quick options. But that is when you have already added the mutual fund’s bank account as a beneficiary in your Net banking account. So more or less, this option along with Net banking can be used for same-day NAV allotment.
- UPI and IMPS investments are instantaneous. The money is generally transferred to the fund house’s bank account immediately. So if you do it before the cut-off time, you have a high chance of getting the same-day NAV. But remember that there is a limit on the amount of transactions in the case of UPI.
The new NAV allotment rule became effective from February 2021 and is applicable for all types of investments, including one-time lumpsum or regular SIP investments in mutual funds.
Getting the same-day NAV is very important for those late investors who want to invest in tax-saving ELSS funds around the last day of the financial year, i.e. 31st March. I wrote about it in a column in Moneycontrol – Why you could lose income tax deductions if you invest in ELSS funds on March 31?
So make sure you are aware of SEBI’s NAV Applicability Rule for mutual fund purchases and which mode of investment you will use (from cheque, netbanking, NEFT, RTGS, IMPS, UPI, etc.) if you want to get the same day’s NAV for your MF investments.