Q1: 2026-04-29 Earnings Summary

EPS of $0.76 beats by $0.02

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With Sebi allowing mutual fund investors to temporarily block any withdrawals or debits from their mutual fund folios, PPFAS Mutual Fund along with 15 AMCs have rolled out a voluntary lock-in facility, offering an added layer of safety and control to investors with effect from April 30.

The new framework introduced by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) allows investors to freeze their mutual fund folios so that no units can be redeemed, switched, or otherwise debited until the lock is removed.

Also Read | 25 equity MFs deliver over 25% in April; Nippon India Taiwan Equity Fund tops list. Will momentum continue in May?

The facility applies to both demat and non-demat mutual fund holdings, meaning it covers folios held in demat accounts as well as those maintained directly with asset management companies (AMCs).

The locking facility will initially be made available through MF Central, an interoperable digital platform used by investors to manage mutual fund transactions and service requests across different fund houses

The fund house to introduce this facility as of now include – 360 One Mutual Fund, Baroda BNP Paribas Mutual Fund, PPFAS Mutual Fund, Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund, Groww Mutual Fund, Helios Mutual Fund, ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund, ITI Mutual Fund, JM Mutual Fund, LIC Mutual Fund, PGIM India Mutual Fund, Samco Mutual Fund, Shriram Mutual Fund, Trust Mutual Fund, WhiteOak Capital Mutual Fund.

Applicability and who all can execute

The facility is available for Resident and Non-Resident Individual Investors including Minor Folio held through a Guardian. The facility to lock / unlock will be available only to the first / sole holder in the folio, held in single and anyone or survivor basis and this will also be available to minor account which will be exercised by guardian till age of maturity and after obtaining maturity, lock/unlock will be exercised by the unit holder only.

Basic requirements

The facility shall be enabled only for KYC complied (Registered / Validated) investors having valid Email ID and Indian Mobile number registered in the folio (both mandatory).

Options for locking / freezing

The investors will have the option to lock any or all of these transactions in the folios selected for locking: Lock only debit transactions (investor initiated) or lock debit + non-financial transactions (investor initiated).

Also Read | Best mutual fund SIP portfolios to invest in May 2026

Process for locking/freezing the folio/s for units held in non-demat mode

The process for locking or freezing the folios for units held in non-demat mode includes six steps to follow. Firstly the investor(s) will log-in to MF Central portal after completing all applicable log-in validation processes which includes providing PAN + email ID / mobile number, OTP based authentication to the email ID/ mobile number.

Secondly, on successful validation, investors will be provided with details of all his/her holdings viz., fund name, scheme, outstanding units and value of units (basis last available NAV) held in SoA form. Thirdly, the investors will select the option to lock the transactions.

Fourthly, the investor will select the fund name and folios that he/ she chooses to lock, followed by once selected, OTP would be sent to the registered mobile number / email ID and upon successful validation of OTP, MF Central will send the requests to the respective RTA who would lock the folio and send confirmation to investor.

Lastly, the lock would be marked in the select folio(s) in the RTA database instantly for holdings held in SoA form.

Process for unlocking the folio/s for units held in non-demat mode

The process for unlocking the folio/s for units held in non-demat mode also includes six steps to follow. Firstly, the investor(s) will log-in to MF Central portal after completing all applicable log-in validation processes which includes providing PAN + email ID/ mobile number, OTP based authentication to the email ID/ mobile number.

Secondly, on successful validation, investors will be provided with details of all his holdings viz., fund name, scheme, outstanding units and value of units (basis last available NAV) held in SoA form. Thirdly, the investors will select the option to unlock the transactions and then the investor will select the fund name and folios that he/ she chooses to unlock.

The fifth step requires two levels of authorization to be mandated by sending different OTPs to the registered mobile number and email ID and both should get validated. And lastly, after successful validation, MF Central will send the request to the respective RTA who would unlock the folio(s) and send confirmation to investors.

Process for locking the folio/s held in demat mode

MF Central will provide an option for the investor to lock holdings held in demat account by redirecting investors to online services offered by respective depositories.

Transactions allowed when folio is locked

Once the folios are locked, these non investor‑initiated transactions such as Address updation via KRA feeds, IDCW Payout/ Re-investment, and any action as required to be taken to adhere to the request/ orders received from Regulatory Authorities are permitted.

Also Read | Low-cost index funds & ETFs should form backbone of your portfolio: Vishal Jain, CEO, Zerodha Mutual Fund

Transactions allowed only after unlocking the folios

Around 14 types of transactions will be allowed only after unlocking the folios. These transactions include financial and non-financial transactions. The financial transactions include redemption, registration of STP, registration of SWP/STP, and switches.

The non-financial transactions include change/ addition of bank mandate, change of broker code, change of E-mail ID and/ or mobile number, nominee registration/ cancellation, change in IDCW option, lien marking, change in signature, consolidation of folios, transfer of units and change of tax status.

Note: Existing registered SWP/STP/DTP (before lock) will continue. All other transactions remain unaffected. All other transactions remain unaffected unless specified above.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

If you have any mutual fund queries, message on ET Mutual Funds on Facebook/Twitter. We will get it answered by our panel of experts. Do share your questions on ETMFqueries@timesinternet.in along with your age, risk profile, and twitter handle.

Kotak Mutual Fund has announced temporary suspension of subscriptions in its four international funds: Kotak Global Emerging Market Overseas Equity Omni FOF, Kotak Global Innovation Overseas Equity Omni FOF, Kotak International REIT Overseas Equity Omni FOF, and Kotak Quality Overseas Equity Omni FOF, with effect from April 30.

The fund house said that acceptance of fresh or additional lump sum or switch-in transactions, and fresh SIP or STP registrations in these schemes, will be discontinued with effect from April 30, 2026, while permitting fresh or additional lump sum or switch-ins or registration of SIP or STP up to Rs 1 lakh per PAN per month in the respective schemes.

Also Read | International funds deliver up to 50% returns in a year, subscriptions halted. Should investors book profits or stay invested?
The unitholders were informed about these changes through a notice-cum-addendum. The notice-cum-addendum also said that all purchase or switch transactions of the schemes timestamped on or before 3.00 pm on April 29, 2026, shall be accepted and processed at applicable NAV. However, instalments falling due under existing SIP or STP registered prior to the effective date will be processed under respective Plans or Options of the schemes at applicable NAV.

As of March 2026, Kotak Global Emerging Market Overseas Equity Omni FOF, Kotak Global Innovation Overseas Equity Omni FOF, Kotak International REIT Overseas Equity Omni FOF, and Kotak Quality Overseas Equity Omni FOF had an AUM of Rs 935 crore, Rs 604 crore, Rs 98 crore, and Rs 58.02 crore, respectively.

These four international funds are managed by Arjun Khanna. In the last one year, Kotak Global Emerging Market Overseas Equity Omni FOF, Kotak Global Innovation Overseas Equity Omni FOF, and Kotak International REIT Overseas Equity Omni FOF gave returns of 65.96%, 43.51%, and 20.74%, respectively.
Kotak Quality Overseas Equity Omni FOF was launched on March 25, 2026, and has delivered a 5.12% return since inception.
Also Read | Best mutual fund SIP portfolios to invest in May 2026
Apart from these four international funds, Kotak Mutual Fund manages one more international fund, Kotak US Specific Equity Passive FoF, which is also managed by Arjun Khanna and has delivered a 56.20% return since its inception on February 2, 2021.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

If you have any mutual fund queries, message on ET Mutual Funds on Facebook/Twitter. We will get it answered by our panel of experts. Do share your questions on ETMFqueries@timesinternet.in alongwith your age, risk profile, and twitter handle

Around 25 equity mutual funds have delivered over 25% return in April 2026, an analysis by ETMutualFunds showed. There were 613 equity funds, which included the equity mutual funds and equity oriented SIFs.

The top 10 funds were sectoral and thematic funds. Out of 613 funds, 248 funds gave double-digit returns, 363 gave single-digit returns and two gave negative returns.

Also Read | Low-cost index funds & ETFs should form backbone of your portfolio: Vishal Jain, CEO, Zerodha Mutual Fund

Indices movement

In April, Indian and global indices remained in the positive territory with Nasdaq being the biggest gainer as the index went up 12.96%, followed by S&P 500 which was up 8.52%. Nifty50 and BSE Sensex were up 6.60% and 5.96% respectively.

Dow Jones, Hang Seng and DAX were up 4.93%, 3.23% and 2.81% respectively in the month of April.

How equity funds performed

Nippon India Taiwan Equity Fund delivered the highest return of 27.83% in the month of April, followed by Motilal Oswal Nasdaq 100 FOF which gave 26.19% in the same period. Mirae Asset NYSE FANG+ETF FoF and Quant Infrastructure Fund gave 21.46% and 20.24% respectively.
Invesco India – Invesco Global Consumer Trends FoF posted a return of 20.16% followed by three funds from Quant Mutual Fund. Quant Commodities Fund, Quant PSU Fund and Quant Manufacturing Fund delivered a return of 20.14%, 19.74% and 18.85% respectively in April.
Bank of India Small Cap Fund and HDFC Defence Fund delivered 17.27% and 17.03% returns respectively. Three small cap funds – JM Small Cap Fund, Groww Small Cap Fund and Bajaj Finserv Small Cap Fund offered 15.41%, 15.38% and 15.34% returns respectively in April.
Two funds from Motilal Oswal Mutual Fund – Motilal Oswal Small Cap Fund and Motilal Oswal ELSS Tax Saver Fund offered a return of 15.02% and 14.96% respectively. Aditya Birla SL Infrastructure Fund and Quant ESG Integration Strategy Fund gave 14.93% each.

Mirae Asset Infrastructure Fund and DSP India T.I.G.E.R Fund posted a return of 14.19% each. SBI Energy Opportunities Fund delivered a return of 13.74% in April. Quant Small Cap Fund and Axis Global Innovation FoF delivered 13.02% each.

Two friends from Quant Mutual Fund – Quant ELSS Tax Saver Fund and Quant Large Cap Fund gave 12.48% each in April. SBI Small Cap Fund delivered a return of 11.65% in the said time period.

Two funds from SBI Mutual Fund – SBI Focused Fund and SBI Midcap Fund gave 11.31% each in the mentioned time period. Abakkus Flexi Cap Fund posted a return of 11.01% in April. Abakkus Small Cap Fund gave 10.55% return. DSP Midcap Fund, ICICI Pru Commodities Fund and Tata Multicap Fund gave 10.20% each. Axis Greater China Equity FoF was the last one to deliver a double-digit return of around 10.02% in April.

Helios Financial Services Fund and HDFC Consumption Fund gave 9.95% return each in April. Parag Parikh Flexi Cap Fund, the largest active fund and flexi cap fund based on assets managed, gave 5.81% return in April.

Edelweiss ASEAN Equity Off-Shore Fund was the last one to deliver positive returns as the fund gave 0.05% return in April.

Also Read | Can Rs 70 lakh grow to Rs 5 crore? Expert says a 10% step-up SIP may fall short of the goal

Negative performers

ICICI Pru Strategic Metal and Energy Equity FoF and Axis US Specific Treasury Dynamic Debt Passive FoF lost 2.42% and 0.21% in April.

What should investors do?

Rajesh Minocha, a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and Founder of Financial Radiance shared with ETMutualFunds that in April, equity funds saw gradual recovery, led by mid and small cap stocks, while large caps maintained steady performance.

“The sector trends diverged, with PSU and infrastructure sectors remaining strong and the IT sector showing early signs of improvement and international funds remained stable due to stronger global market indicators.”

Minocha further said that market fluctuations are expected in May, large cap stocks are likely to offer more consistent performance than mid and small caps, which require careful stock selection and investors are advised to use SIPs for flexi-cap funds and also include some mid-cap funds in their portfolio.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)

If you have any mutual fund queries, message on ET Mutual Funds on Facebook/Twitter. We will get it answered by our panel of experts. Do share your questions on ETMFqueries@timesinternet.in alongwith your age, risk profile, and twitter handle

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