Twenty-eight mutual fund New Fund Offers launched in September 2024 collectively raised over ₹2,700 crore. The top performer was Tata CRISIL-IBX Financial Services 3–6 Month Debt Index Fund, a short-duration debt index product tracking a CRISIL benchmark. Among equity NFOs, six index funds launched included UTI BSE India Sector Leaders, Mirae Asset BSE IT Index, and Axis Nifty500 Low Volatility 50, reflecting continued investor appetite for passive, rules-based investment vehicles across both debt and equity segments.

A New Fund Offer (NFO) is the first subscription window during which an asset management company (AMC) sells units of a newly launched mutual fund scheme to the public — analogous to an IPO for stocks. SEBI regulates all NFOs under the SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996.

The September 2024 NFO wave reveals two structural trends examiners care about:

1. Passive investing surge: Index funds replicate a benchmark index (Nifty, BSE indices) rather than relying on active fund manager decisions. They carry lower expense ratios and tracking error as key performance metrics. SEBI has progressively pushed AMCs toward passive products to reduce mis-selling risk.

2. Debt index funds: These track fixed-income benchmarks — in this case, CRISIL-IBX indices that measure returns from financial-sector bonds maturing in 3–6 months. They offer more predictable, low-duration credit exposure compared to actively managed debt funds. CRISIL is India's leading credit-rating and index provider, and the IBX (Indian Bond Index) series is widely used as a benchmark in such products.

SEBI's categorisation circular (October 2017, revised periodically) limits AMCs to one scheme per category to prevent proliferation — making NFO launches in niche index categories particularly noteworthy. Understanding NFO mechanics, index fund regulation, and the role of benchmark providers like CRISIL is directly testable in SEBI Grade A examinations.