Franklin Templeton launches Sapphire Equity Long

Franklin Templeton launches Sapphire Equity Long-Short SIF under SIF framework

Franklin Templeton India launches Sapphire Equity Long Short SIF, a Nifty 500 based quant fund for high risk investors, NFO runs April 10 to 24 2026 with 10 lakh minimum investment

By Srabastee Biswas

Franklin Templeton (India) has announced the launch of Sapphire Equity Long-Short SIF, its first offering under the Specialised Investment Funds (SIF) framework. The strategy is an equity long-short fund investing across Nifty 500 stocks to provide diversified exposure to large-, mid- and small-cap segments.

The fund aims to generate long-term capital appreciation across market cycles through a proprietary, model-driven quantitative strategy anchored in disciplined stock selection, dynamic allocation and risk management. The new fund offer (NFO) will be open for subscription from April 10, 2026 to April 24, 2026.

Avinash Satwalekar, President, Franklin Templeton – India, said investors today face rapidly changing market conditions, making flexible and disciplined strategies increasingly important. He noted that SIFs are designed for investors with a higher risk appetite and offer the potential for relatively higher returns while remaining tax efficient.

He added that SIF strategies differ from conventional mutual funds as they can take short positions of up to 25% of their net assets. According to Satwalekar, this ability can help reduce downside risk during market corrections by allowing the fund to respond to market shifts more dynamically.

The strategy uses a proprietary quantitative model that evaluates stocks using more than 40 factors across quality, value, sentiment and alternative indicators. The framework is designed to identify both long opportunities and selective short positions across equities.

Arihant Jain, Portfolio Manager of Sapphire Equity Long-Short SIF, said the model assesses stocks using a combination of leading and lagging indicators, recognising that different factors perform differently across market environments. The system scores and ranks stocks for both long exposure and selective short positioning to enable a balanced response to market shifts.

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The fund will be managed by Jain with a minimum initial investment of ₹10 lakh and subsequent investments in multiples of ₹10,000. It will be benchmarked against the Nifty 500 TRI and will levy an exit load of 1% if units are redeemed within one year of allotment.

(Edited by : Ajay Vaishnav )