Bhavesh Jain on why Edelweiss chose a hybrid-first approach to SIFs

Speaking at the Moneycontrol Dezerv Wealth Summit, Bhavesh Jain of Edelweiss says the firm’s approach to Structured Investment Funds (SIFs) is rooted in a long-held belief that fund houses do not need to select products for investors, but instead focus on building a credible track record. At Edelweiss, he explains, hybrid investing has always been treated as a distinct discipline, separate from pure equity or fixed income.

“Normally, every AMC has one equity CIO and one fixed income CIO,” Jain says. “Here, we have three different teams, and the team I co-head focuses only on hybrid products.”

Drawing on experience across arbitrage funds, balanced advantage funds, multi-asset funds and equity savings funds, Edelweiss saw an opportunity to enhance returns without adding meaningful risk. The objective, Jain says, was clear: deliver arbitrage plus 2.5–3% returns using strategies that are not permitted within the traditional mutual fund framework.

To achieve this, the strategy does not rely on taking directional short positions. “We are not using derivatives to make money by going short on the market,” Jain clarifies. Instead, the focus is on option writing—covered calls and covered puts—which are permitted only in a limited form in mutual funds. “Here, there is no such restriction,” he says.