What Is Expense Ratio?
The Total Expense Ratio (TER) is the annual fee a mutual fund charges to manage your money. It covers fund management, administration, marketing, compliance, and distribution costs. It's expressed as a percentage of your invested amount and is deducted daily from the fund's NAV.
If a fund has a TER of 1.5%, and your investment grows by 12% in a year, your actual return is roughly 10.5%. You never see the deduction as a separate charge — it's baked into the NAV you see.
Why 0.5% Is a Big Deal
Consider two funds with identical pre-expense returns of 12% per year:
- Fund A (TER 0.5%): ₹10,000/month SIP for 20 years → approximately ₹98 lakh
- Fund B (TER 2.0%): ₹10,000/month SIP for 20 years → approximately ₹79 lakh
The 1.5% TER difference costs you approximately ₹19 lakh over 20 years on a ₹10,000/month SIP. That's nearly 2 years of total invested amount wiped out by fees alone.
What Is a Good Expense Ratio?
TER benchmarks vary by fund type:
- Index funds / ETFs: 0.05% – 0.30% (should be the lowest)
- Large cap active funds: 0.50% – 1.50%
- Mid/small cap funds: 0.80% – 2.00%
- Debt funds: 0.15% – 0.80%
- Liquid funds: 0.05% – 0.30%
Direct plans have lower TER than regular plans because they exclude distribution commissions. The difference is typically 0.5–1.0%.
SEBI's TER Caps
SEBI regulates maximum expense ratios based on AUM. Larger funds must charge less:
- First ₹500 Cr: up to 2.25% (equity) or 2.00% (debt)
- Next ₹500 Cr: up to 2.00% (equity)
- Over ₹50,000 Cr: as low as 1.05% (equity)
This means the largest funds (by AUM) tend to have lower expense ratios — one reason why AUM matters when comparing funds.
How to Factor TER Into Your Fund Selection
- Compare within category: Don't compare an equity fund's TER with a debt fund's. Compare large cap to large cap.
- Weight returns by TER: A fund returning 14% with 2% TER is no better than one returning 13% with 0.5% TER. The second fund takes less risk to deliver similar net returns.
- Watch for TER changes: Funds can increase TER. Check if the fund's TER has been stable over the past 2–3 years.
- Index fund default: If you can't find an actively managed fund that consistently beats its benchmark after expenses, an index fund at 0.1–0.2% TER is the rational choice.
Check TER on MFGenie
Every fund page on MFGenie shows the current expense ratio alongside returns and AUM. Use our comparison tool to sort funds by TER within any category and identify the most cost-efficient options.
Mutual fund investments are subject to market risks. Past performance is not indicative of future results.