Every term, plain English.
The vocabulary of PMS, AIF and GIFT City investing, defined in one line each, no circular jargon, grouped by theme so you can find it fast.
32 terms worth knowing.
Private-market investing carries a thick vocabulary, and the words do real work: a single term can change how a return is read or how a fee is charged. We have grouped the essentials into four themes: the products and structures themselves, how returns and risk are measured, what the whole thing costs and how it is taxed, and the safeguards that keep your money where it belongs. Skim the group you need.
Pick a theme. Read the language.
Four themes hold the whole vocabulary. Choose a row on the rail; every definition stays one plain-English line.
- 01PMS
- Portfolio Management Service: direct, professionally managed equity held in your own demat, not units of a pooled fund. The SEBI minimum is ₹50 lakh.
- 02AIF
- Alternative Investment Fund: a privately pooled vehicle for sophisticated investors, with a ₹1 crore minimum, split by SEBI into Categories I, II and III.
- 03Discretionary mandate
- An arrangement where the manager makes and executes investment decisions on your behalf, within an agreed strategy, without seeking approval trade by trade.
- 04Mandate
- The written brief that defines what a manager may buy, the strategy they must follow and the limits they must respect. Your guardrail against style drift.
- 05Close-ended
- A fund with a fixed life and a lock-in: you commit for a set term and cannot redeem at will. Common in Category I and II AIFs.
- 06Lock-in
- A period during which you cannot redeem your investment. It buys the manager time to let an illiquid strategy play out.
- 07In-specie transfer
- Moving the actual underlying securities in or out of a portfolio, rather than cash. Useful when you want to retain holdings instead of triggering a sale.
- 08GIFT City / IFSC
- India's International Financial Services Centre. It lets NRIs invest in USD with a lighter tax regime and repatriation in roughly two days.
When a term does the selling, slow down.
Most mis-sold products hide behind one flattering word: a soft benchmark, a return quoted gross, a fee clause buried in jargon. Knowing what each term really means is the cheapest protection you have.
| Theme | What it covers | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Products & structure | The vehicles themselves, and the legal shapes they take. | 8 |
| Returns & risk | How performance is measured, and how the bumps are described. | 9 |
| Fees & tax | What the structure costs you, and how the taxman treats it. | 9 |
| Safeguards & operations | The plumbing that keeps your money where it should be. | 6 |
Every theme lives in the ledger above. Pick the group where your question sits, and read the one line that answers it before anyone reads it to you.
The terms people most often confuse.
Nyra speaks the jargon so you don't have to.
Every SEBI-registered strategy, scored on the same 0–10 basis, with every answer citing its source. Ask her what any term means for your money.
Related guides.
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Educational only, not investment advice. Figures are current to FY2025-26 and may change. Investments are subject to market risks; read all scheme documents carefully.