IDFC Arbitrage fund invests in arbitrage opportunities in the cash and the derivative segments of the equity markets. It aims to capture the spread (Cost of Carry) between the cash and futures market by simultaneously executing buy (in the cash market) and sell (in the futures market) trades. The balance is invested in debt and money market instruments. The fund typically follows a strategy of taking market neutral (equally offsetting) positions in the equity market making it a low risk product irrespective of movements in equity market.

IDFC Arbitrage Plus fund is a fund that takes advantage of a temporary price differential in cash and derivative segment of equity market, and is low-risk in nature. It can also participate in strategies that may involve relatively more risk than usual arbitrage positions, but only upto 5% of the portfolio. Typically the fund will have atleast 65% of the portfolio in hedged equities and so are classified as equity-oriented funds with dividend from them declared tax free under current tax laws.

The debt portion of the IDFC Arbitrage Plus Fund intends to take active duration call across the yield curve in line with our interest rate view. Currently, we foresee the participation via the Gsec route. However the fund manager may choose to invest in Gsec/Corporate Bond/other Debt market securities in line with the rate view. The fund will thus have atleast 65% of the portfolio in equity positions (hedged), and the balance upto 35% will be invested in CBLO and Fixed Deposits up to 3 months and in actively managed debt strategies.