While stock market investments can grow your wealth, their risks have led to the search for relatively safer routes such as mutual funds. However, smallcase investments, quite different from such funds and other traditional routes, have gained popularity for those seeking to invest in a particular ...read more
Smallcase provides a unique way to enter the stock market through which you can select theme-based or sectoral stocks. This can help you diversify your portfolio and invest in any sector or theme that you are interested in.
Smallcase is a modern way to invest in the stock market through pre-designed portfolios of stocks (equities) or exchange-traded funds (ETFs). These portfolios are based on specific themes, ideas, or strategies — examples include technology, green energy, agriculture, high-dividend companies, and so on.
Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced investor, smallcase allows you to grow your wealth and achieve financial goals by diversifying your portfolio. You can directly invest in any particular fund(s) through different brokerage platforms that give you the flexibility to manage your investment.
Each smallcase is built around a specific theme or strategy such as sector growth, dividend income, or value investing. It encompasses a detailed list of the stocks or ETFs that are built and managed by financial experts.
Once you select a smallcase, you can invest in the entire basket with a single transaction. Moreover, you can also customise the stock and make additions or modifications based on your preferences. You can easily track the performance of your investment through a unified dashboard and exit the entire smallcase whenever needed. This makes them an efficient and goal-oriented way to diversify your portfolio.
Investing in smallcases is quite easy — you can simply create a brokerage account on any preferred platform and choose a particular fund!
Here are some of the key types of smallcases —
This type of smallcase portfolio focuses on specific themes or ideas such as electric vehicles, green energy, healthcare, and more.
It includes a collection of stocks or ETFs from companies related to a particular industry such as IT, fintech, pharma, or real estate.
As the name indicates, this type of smallcase investment portfolio includes companies with a history of paying dividends.
Note: Besides these smallcase investment portfolios, you can find numerous options available.
Mentioned below are the benefits that you can enjoy by investing in smallcases —
Smallcases help investors diversify their portfolios by investing in many stocks focused on a specific theme or strategy. This decreases risk while increasing exposure to various industries or sectors.
With a variety of stocks available, it’s difficult to choose the stocks with high returns. This is especially the case with those who wish to invest money into particular sectors or themes, not the overall market.
With a smallcase portfolio of various stocks related to only specific themes, you get flexibility in terms of sector focus and specific stock allocations.
Smallcases greatly simplify the investment process. As an investor, you can get a pre-defined basket of stocks with a single click, making it a hassle-free way to start investing.
Another benefit of investing in these funds is that you can easily track individual stocks and portfolio performance over time. This keeps you updated on how well your portfolio is performing and whether any changes are required.
Smallcase strategies are designed by professionals, including fund managers and analysts (SEBI-registered experts). This ensures that the portfolios are backed by research and expert opinion.
This type of investment is quite cost-efficient — smallcase charges are quite nominal compared to other traditional investment methods such as mutual funds. Furthermore, there are usually no lock-in periods or exit loads for smallcase.
Let’s understand the key differences between smallcases and mutual funds, two of the most popular ways to invest in the stock market —
Parameters |
Smallcase |
Mutual Funds |
---|---|---|
Definition |
Pre-selected portfolios of stocks/ETFs based on specific themes and strategies |
Pooled investment in a diversified portfolio of securities such as equity, debt, and so on |
Customisation |
Available |
NA |
Transparency and Flexibility |
Yes — you can easily track the performance of portfolio |
Yes — you can check the NAV of your mutual fund |
Cost |
Subscription fees, transaction charges, and so on |
Exit load, expense ratio, and more |
Risk |
Present due to market-link |
Present due to market-link |
Simply navigate the steps given below to initiate smallcase investment —
Log into the official website or app of smallcase. Next, link your broker account.
Choose a smallcase as per your financial planning and investment goals. For instance, if you are bullish on the electric vehicle (EV) industry in the country, you can choose a fund that invests only in stocks or ETFs related to companies in this sector.
Once you select and invest in a smallcase, its units — stocks or ETFs — get credited to your demat account. You can now track your investment performance and modify it, aligning your financial goals.
Note: Smallcase portfolios are regularly rebalanced by smallcase managers that ensure consecutive growth of your funds.
Before starting your smallcase investment journey, you must keep the following things in mind —
Before investing, it’s essential to define your financial goals. Are you looking to grow wealth over time, generate regular income, or build a retirement corpus? Smallcases are designed on themes as well as strategies, so select one that aligns with your goals.
For instance, if wealth accumulation is your goal, go for long-term growth smallcases. However, if you want consistent income, choose dividend funds.
Smallcases are built around specific strategies and themes such as sectoral, dividend-based, and so forth. It’s important to research thoroughly and select themes that have high growth potential and align with your financial goal. Some of the popular smallcase investment sectors include pharmaceuticals, green energy, defence, technology, and more.
Your risk appetite with market fluctuations plays a significant role in choosing a smallcase. High-growth themes, such as tech-focused or small-cap stocks, come with higher risk. Conservative options, such as funds with diversified themes or firms with low debts, might be relatively more stable.
Smallcase investments typically allow for a low minimum investment. Nevertheless, you should assess your budget to ensure you start with an amount that won’t strain your finances while enabling you to diversify effectively. It's also wise to allocate funds you won’t need in the short term.
Analyse the historical performance of your chosen smallcase(s) to gauge their consistency and resilience over time. While past performance isn’t a guarantee of future returns, it can provide insights into how the portfolio performs under different market conditions.
Various charges are usually associated with smallcase investments — the list may include transaction fees, subscription charges, and more. While the fees are usually lower than those of mutual funds, they may still affect your returns over time.
Yes, smallcases are beginner-friendly due to their simplicity and the option to start with small amounts.
Yes, smallcase investments allow you to add or remove stocks based on your preferences. This offers you great flexibility and control over your investments.
Smallcase and mutual funds are two popular methods of investing with distinctive features and benefits. There is no better option — you can choose whatever you prefer based on your goals, risk appetite, and the preferred level of control over investments.