SBI Mutual Fund, India's largest asset manager with reported AUM of about ₹11.9 lakh crore as of August 2025, has confirmed its entry into the Specialised Investment Fund (SIF) category, unveiling a dedicated platform called "Magnum SIF." The move brings the country's biggest fund house into a segment that had, until this point, been led mainly by early entrants such as Edelweiss, whose Altiva SIF launched its brand back in May 2025.

Magnum SIF has been positioned by the AMC as the natural bridge between SBI Mutual Fund's existing mutual fund business and its portfolio management services (PMS) offerings — designed to give investors access to more customised, differentiated strategies while retaining the familiar governance and tax framework of a regulated mutual fund structure.

What the platform is built to offer According to SBI Mutual Fund, Magnum SIF is designed to span the full range of categories permitted under SEBI's SIF rules:

  • Equity strategies

  • Hybrid strategies

  • Fixed income strategies

Nand Kishore, MD & CEO of SBI Funds Management, described the launch of the SIF framework as a strategic evolution in the AMC's journey, while D P Singh, Deputy MD & Joint CEO, framed Magnum SIF as a significant step in expanding the group's product suite with genuinely differentiated offerings, distinct from its existing mutual fund range.

Building the team ahead of launch Ahead of its first product launch, SBI Mutual Fund had already installed Gaurav Mehta, CFA, as Head – SIF, Equity. Mehta, who has been with SBI Funds Management since 2018, brings close to two decades of experience across equity research, portfolio management and alternative investment strategies, and had been leading the equity investment strategy for Magnum SIF internally since July 2025 — several months ahead of the platform's public unveiling.

What comes next SBI Mutual Fund has indicated that its first Magnum product, a hybrid long-short fund, is expected to open for subscription in early October 2025. Given SBI's scale — both in terms of assets under management and its unmatched distribution reach across India, including in smaller towns and cities where private-sector AMCs have limited presence — Magnum SIF's entry is widely expected to be one of the more closely watched developments in the SIF category's first year, with the potential to meaningfully expand the investor base for SIFs beyond the metro-centric HNI audience most early launches have targeted.