Examine Liquid Mutual Funds vs Liquid ETFs in India 2025. Perceive security, returns, taxation, liquidity, iNAV points, and which fits you finest.
With regards to parking short-term surplus or creating an emergency fund, most Indian traders flip to Liquid Mutual Funds. Lately, another choice—Liquid ETFs—has began attracting consideration, particularly after the recognition of Nippon’s Liquid BeES. Each appear to do the identical job: put money into ultra-short-term, secure, high-quality debt devices like Treasury Payments and Industrial Papers. However in apply, they work in another way, and the distinction turns into essential if you truly attempt to purchase, promote, or redeem.
Liquid Mutual Funds vs Liquid ETF – Which is Higher in India?
On this publish, let’s dig deep into Liquid Mutual Funds vs Liquid ETFs within the Indian context of 2025. We’ll cowl taxation, liquidity, NAV vs iNAV, execution dangers, and who ought to use which product. The dialogue is written in easy, explanatory language, avoiding jargon wherever attainable.
How Do Liquid Mutual Funds Work?
A Liquid Mutual Fund is the only short-term funding choice. You set in cash in the present day, and the fund invests in very quick maturity devices. Your funding begins incomes from the identical day (if positioned earlier than the cut-off). The following day, the items are allotted primarily based on the day’s declared Internet Asset Worth (NAV).
In the event you redeem, the fund home straight credit the cash into your checking account, often the subsequent enterprise day (T+1). Some funds additionally provide on the spot redemption as much as Rs.50,000 per day per PAN, making them much more handy for emergency functions.
The important thing right here is that all the pieces occurs on the declared NAV. You don’t want to fret about timing, liquidity available in the market, or whether or not somebody is prepared to purchase your items.
How Do Liquid ETFs Work?
A Liquid ETF, like Nippon Liquid BeES, works in another way. Whereas the portfolio is broadly the identical as a liquid fund, the way in which you transact is through the inventory alternate. Meaning:
- You want a demat account.
- You purchase or promote items on the prevailing market value on NSE/BSE.
- Settlement occurs like several inventory commerce (T+1).
This sounds easy, however there’s a catch. The ETF has two reference values:
- NAV: Declared as soon as every day, identical to a mutual fund.
- iNAV (Indicative NAV): Up to date each 15 seconds by NSE. This displays the truthful worth of the underlying portfolio through the buying and selling day.
In idea, the traded value of an ETF ought to match its iNAV. However in apply, particularly in India, attributable to restricted volumes, ETFs usually commerce at a small premium or low cost to iNAV. This creates an execution danger. In the event you purchase at a premium and later promote at a reduction, your returns could also be worse than somebody in a plain liquid fund, even when the underlying portfolio carried out identically.
NAV vs iNAV – The Transparency Problem in India
In developed markets just like the US, iNAV monitoring is close to excellent as a result of ETFs are extremely liquid and market makers make sure that the traded value not often deviates from iNAV. Buyers even have entry to wealthy datasets, together with historic iNAV values, making it simple to back-test how environment friendly an ETF has been.
In India, the scenario is totally different.
- The NAV is on the market every day from the AMC or AMFI.
- The traded value is seen from NSE or BSE historic quotes.
- However the iNAV historical past will not be accessible publicly. NSE solely reveals it dwell throughout market hours, and no archive exists for retail traders.
This creates a information transparency hole. Retail traders can’t confirm whether or not the ETF persistently traded near its truthful worth up to now. This lack of historic iNAV makes Liquid ETFs tougher to investigate in comparison with Liquid Mutual Funds, the place every day NAV historical past is publicly accessible on AMFI’s web site.
In different phrases, whereas mutual funds provide you with full transparency, ETFs in India nonetheless require you to belief that execution was truthful, and not using a approach to validate traditionally.
Taxation in 2025 – Uniform for Each
Till 2023, debt mutual funds (together with liquid funds) loved favorable long-term capital features taxation with indexation advantages if held for greater than 3 years. However this benefit ended from 1st April 2023.
Now, in 2025, each Liquid Mutual Funds and Liquid ETFs are taxed identically:
- Any features, no matter holding interval, are taxed as per your revenue tax slab.
- There isn’t any long-term or short-term differentiation.
This implies for an individual within the 30% tax bracket, whether or not you maintain a liquid fund for at some point or one 12 months, or whether or not you maintain an ETF, the tax remedy is identical. Due to this fact, taxation not performs a task in selecting between the 2.
Liquidity – The Actual Deal Breaker
With regards to liquidity, mutual funds and ETFs behave very in another way in India.
- Liquid Funds: Redemption is at all times accessible at NAV. No dependency on consumers or sellers. AMCs assure liquidity, and the cash reaches your checking account in T+1 (or immediately for some portion in choose funds).
- Liquid ETFs: Liquidity will depend on market members. If you wish to promote, there should be consumers on the value you count on. On low-volume days, you might face a large bid-ask unfold, which suggests you both promote at a lower cost or wait longer. Whereas establishments can create or redeem ETF items straight with the AMC (eradicating liquidity considerations), retail traders rely solely on alternate liquidity.
This makes Liquid ETFs much less dependable for emergency cash in India. In superior markets, the place ETF volumes run into hundreds of thousands of {dollars} every day, this isn’t a problem. However in India, the place buying and selling volumes in liquid ETFs are comparatively skinny (apart from Liquid BeES to some extent), retail traders face real execution dangers.
Who Ought to Use What?
Liquid Mutual Funds are higher suited to most retail traders. They’re easy, clear, simple to transact, and supply predictable liquidity. In case your objective is to park emergency funds, or short-term cash for upcoming bills, liquid funds are the clear winner.
Liquid ETFs, alternatively, work higher for:
- Corporates, HNIs, and establishments who already use inventory alternate infrastructure.
- Merchants who need to use ETFs as collateral in derivatives.
- Buyers preferring intraday liquidity (shopping for and promoting inside market hours).
For a standard retail investor, the demat requirement, buying and selling execution, iNAV premium/low cost, and liquidity dangers outweigh the small price effectivity advantages of ETFs.
FAQs on Liquid Mutual Funds vs Liquid ETF
Are Liquid ETFs safer than Liquid Mutual Funds?
Each put money into the identical secure short-term devices. The distinction will not be portfolio security, however execution security. Mutual funds give assured NAV-based execution, whereas ETFs could commerce away from iNAV attributable to market liquidity.
Why does iNAV matter for ETFs and the place can I test it?
iNAV displays the real-time truthful worth of an ETF. Ideally, ETF costs ought to match iNAV, however in India, they usually deviate attributable to low liquidity. Stay iNAV might be checked on NSE’s web site throughout market hours, however no historic information is on the market for retail traders. This transparency hole makes it tougher to evaluate ETF effectivity in India.
Can Liquid ETFs give higher returns than Liquid Mutual Funds?
The underlying returns are the identical, however ETFs could have decrease bills. Nonetheless, any profit might be worn out in case you purchase at a premium or promote at a reduction to iNAV. So in apply, returns might be worse if execution is poor.
Which is extra liquid in India—Liquid ETF or Liquid Mutual Fund?
Mutual funds assure liquidity through AMC redemption. ETFs depend upon buying and selling volumes and might face liquidity points. Therefore, for Indian retail traders, liquid funds are extra liquid in apply.
How are Liquid ETFs taxed in 2025 in comparison with Liquid Mutual Funds?
Each are taxed the identical—features are added to revenue and taxed as per your slab, with no long-term profit. This rule has been in impact since April 2023.
Can retail traders use Liquid ETFs for emergency funds?
Whereas technically attainable, it’s not sensible. ETFs depend upon alternate liquidity and will not allow you to exit at a good value throughout emergencies. Mutual funds are much more dependable for this function.
Who ought to want Liquid ETFs over Mutual Funds?
ETFs are appropriate for establishments, corporates, and energetic merchants who want intraday liquidity or collateral utilization. For on a regular basis retail traders, liquid funds stay the higher selection.
Conclusion
The talk between Liquid Mutual Funds vs Liquid ETFs boils all the way down to execution and transparency in India. Each put money into secure short-term debt devices, each are equally taxed, and each intention to offer low-risk returns. However mutual funds provide easy, predictable liquidity and full transparency by way of every day NAV historical past. ETFs, whereas environment friendly in idea, endure from skinny buying and selling volumes and the absence of historic iNAV information for retail traders, making them much less dependable for on a regular basis traders.
Till Indian markets deepen and information turns into extra clear, Liquid Mutual Funds stay the superior selection for retail traders, whereas Liquid ETFs serve area of interest wants of establishments and complex market members.
Notice – Consult with our earlier posts on Debt Mutual Funds at “Debt Mutual Funds Fundamentals“.
