The NISM Series V-D Mutual Fund – Specialized Investment Fund Distributors certification is the exam for distributing SEBI's newest product category, the Specialized Investment Fund (SIF). Because SIF strategies can take derivative positions that ordinary mutual fund schemes cannot, the syllabus bolts the whole of equity derivatives and interest rate derivatives onto the standard Mutual Fund Distributors curriculum. The result is the longest paper NISM sets.
This guide covers what a SIF is, the 150-question pattern, the three-module syllabus with its official weightages, and how to plan for a three-hour exam.
What is a Specialized Investment Fund?
Over the years a gap opened between mutual funds, which are tightly constrained, and PMS, which is flexible but expensive and lightly diversified. SEBI's amendment to the Mutual Fund Regulations filled it with the SIF. The rules you must know:
- Minimum investment: Rs 10 lakh, aggregated across all SIF strategies of the same AMC at the PAN level. Holdings in ordinary mutual fund schemes do not count.
- Equity Long-Short Fund — at least 80% in equity; unhedged short exposure through derivatives capped at 25% of NAV.
- Equity Ex-Top 100 Long-Short Fund — at least 65% in stocks outside the top 100 by market capitalisation; shorts in non-large-caps capped at 25%.
- Sector Rotation Long-Short Fund — at least 80% equity, a maximum of four sectors, shorts at sector level capped at 25%.
- Debt Long-Short and Sectoral Debt Long-Short — interval funds with limited short exposure through exchange-traded debt derivatives; the sectoral version needs at least two sectors with no more than 75% in any one.
Expect the numbers — 10 lakh, 80%, 65%, 25%, four sectors, 75% — to be tested directly.
NISM Series V-D exam pattern
| Particular | Detail |
|---|---|
| Number of questions | 150 |
| Marks per question | 1 |
| Total marks | 150 |
| Duration | 3 hours |
| Passing score | 60% (90 out of 150) |
| Negative marking | 10% of the marks assigned to a question |
| Certificate validity | 3 years |
Note the negative marking. It is 10%, not the 25% you may know from VIII or XV. A wrong answer costs 0.1 mark; a blind guess on a four-option question is still worth an expected +0.175. Unlike VIII, guessing is rational on V-D once you have eliminated even one option — and with 150 questions in three hours, you will have to.
Syllabus: three modules, 22 chapters, official weightages
The March 2026 workbook publishes the weightage of every chapter. They sum to 150 marks.
Module 1 — Mutual Fund Distributors (68 marks)
| Chapter | Marks |
|---|---|
| Investment Landscape | 5 |
| Concept and Role of a Mutual Fund | 4 |
| Legal Structure of Mutual Funds in India | 3 |
| Legal and Regulatory Framework | 7 |
| Scheme Related Information | 7 |
| Fund Distribution and Channel Management Practices | 4 |
| NAV, Total Expense Ratio and Pricing of Units | 5 |
| Taxation | 3 |
| Investor Services | 10 |
| Risk, Return and Performance of Funds | 5 |
| Mutual Fund Scheme Performance | 5 |
| Mutual Fund Scheme Selection | 10 |
Module 2 — Equity Derivatives (52 marks)
| Chapter | Marks |
|---|---|
| Basics of Derivatives | 10 |
| Understanding the Index | 5 |
| Introduction to Forwards and Futures | 15 |
| Introduction to Options | 13 |
| Strategies Using Equity Futures and Equity Options | 9 |
Module 3 — Interest Rate Derivatives (30 marks)
| Chapter | Marks |
|---|---|
| Interest Rates, Instruments and the Fixed Income Market | 6 |
| Interest Rate Derivatives | 2 |
| Exchange Traded Interest Rate Futures | 10 |
| Exchange Traded Interest Rate Options | 6 |
| Strategies Using Interest Rate Derivatives | 6 |
Reading the table
Forwards and Futures plus Options are 28 marks on their own — nearly a fifth of the paper from two chapters. Investor Services and Scheme Selection are another 20. Those four chapters, plus Basics of Derivatives and Interest Rate Futures, are 58 marks: two-thirds of the pass mark from six chapters.
Module 3 is where most candidates are weakest, because it is new to everyone. It is only 30 marks, and 10 of them sit in one chapter. Learn interest rate futures properly and let the rest of the module come from the mocks.
If you already hold V-A or VIII
Module 1 is the V-A syllabus. Module 2 is the first five chapters of VIII. If you hold either, you have a head start on 68 or 52 marks — but revise them against the March 2026 workbook, which adds SIF material to the mutual fund chapters that older banks do not cover.
A four-week study plan
Week 1 — Module 1. Fast if you know V-A; thorough if you do not. Priority: Investor Services and Scheme Selection.
Week 2 — Module 2. Futures pricing and cost of carry, margins and mark-to-market, option moneyness and payoffs, then hedging with index futures — number of contracts = (portfolio value × beta) ÷ contract value.
Week 3 — Module 3. Bond prices and yields, duration, then interest rate futures: contract specifications, the cheapest-to-deliver bond, and hedging a bond portfolio by selling futures when rates are expected to rise.
Week 4 — full-length papers. Three hours, 150 questions, no breaks. The exam is a test of stamina as much as knowledge; nothing prepares you for it except sitting it.
Practise free on ScoreSetu: 850+ NISM V-D questions filed into all 22 chapters, each with a full explanation and a memory hook, plus 150-question timed mocks built chapter by chapter to the official weightages.
Quick recap
- Pattern: 150 questions, 1 mark each, 3 hours.
- Pass mark: 60% — 90 marks.
- Negative marking: 10% — guessing after eliminating one option pays.
- Modules: Mutual Funds 68, Equity Derivatives 52, Interest Rate Derivatives 30.
- Heaviest chapters: Forwards and Futures (15), Options (13), Investor Services (10), Scheme Selection (10), Basics of Derivatives (10), Interest Rate Futures (10).
- SIF numbers to know: Rs 10 lakh minimum, 25% short cap, 80% / 65% equity floors, four sectors, 75% sector cap.
Start with the free V-D practice questions, then take a full-length timed mock to find out which module needs the most work.