The Taurus scheme and its stated objective
The Taurus Ethical Fund is an open-ended equity scheme from Taurus Mutual Fund that invests in Shariah-compliant stocks and seeks capital appreciation together with some income distribution from a diversified portfolio. Taurus Asset Management Company Ltd, known as TAMCO, runs it. The scheme is regulated by SEBI like every other mutual fund in India.
When the fund came to market in 2009 it was described as India’s first actively managed equity-oriented Shariah-compliant fund. Active management means a fund manager chooses the shares, as opposed to an index fund that copies a list. The new fund offer ran from 19 February to 20 March 2009, and units were allotted on 6 April 2009. The inception date is 20 March 2009 for the Regular plan and 1 January 2013 for the Direct plan, so the start date you see depends on the plan you look at.
The scheme offers Regular and Direct plans, each with an IDCW option and a Growth option. The IDCW option is meant to distribute income, while Growth keeps the money invested. Neither option guarantees any payout, and you should read the scheme document to see how distributions are decided.
Screening: where Shariah meets Jain-inspired ethics
The scheme information document describes a screen that blends Shariah rules with ethical principles drawn from Jainism. Businesses linked to alcohol, gambling, tobacco, conventional financial services, non-halal food and narcotics are kept out. If a holding later stops meeting the criteria, the document says the fund manager exits it.
The mixed approach is unusual and worth understanding. A purely Shariah screen and a Shariah-plus-Jain screen are not the same list of companies, so you should not assume this portfolio matches another fund that carries a Shariah label. Anyone who needs strict religious compliance should ask a scholar whether this blended method satisfies them.
Who decides compliance
The scheme document refers to identified ethical advisors rather than to a Shariah supervisory board. At launch in 2009 the Shariah adviser was TASIS, which stands for Taqwaa Advisory and Shariah Investment Solutions, with quarterly compliance certification and a recommendation to purify income. Ask the fund house which Shariah adviser serves the fund now.
The scheme page does link a Shariah audit certificate for 2025-26. If this question matters to you, open that certificate, note who signed it and what it covers, and put your questions to the fund house directly.
What the portfolio may hold and how it is limited
The scheme must keep between 80% and 100% of its assets in equity and equity-related instruments. Surplus cash is parked in bank current accounts, not in interest-bearing instruments, which fits the screening logic. The document also bars short selling and says no single company may exceed 10% of the net asset value.
The 10% ceiling limits damage from one failing company, yet it does not stop the fund from leaning on a handful of names or on one sector. Because a portfolio with a Shariah and ethical screen has a narrower pool of eligible companies, concentration can build up quietly.
One caution on data: a portfolio analysis dated 31 July 2021 is too old to judge current holdings, so do not rely on it. Ask for the latest monthly portfolio disclosure and read the top holdings and sector weights from that document.
Benchmark and how to read the performance table
The fund compares itself with the BSE 500 Shariah TRI. The index was renamed with effect from 1 February 2018, and a 2023 scheme document still refers to it as the S&P BSE 500 Shariah TRI. Both names point to the same family of screened shares, so you may meet either.
The scheme page carries a performance table dated 30 September 2026, and that table is where you should read how the fund has done against its benchmark. When you read it, compare the Direct and Regular plan rows separately, because their costs differ, and look at one-year, three-year and five-year periods side by side.
A total return index counts reinvested income, so the Growth option, which keeps money invested, is the more natural comparison. Ask the fund house if you are unsure which line of the table applies to the option you hold or plan to hold. Also check the date printed beside each figure, since a table that mixes dates can mislead.
Taurus Ethical Fund: fees, entry and exit conditions
The base expense ratio is 2.10% a year for the Regular plan and 0.90% for the Direct plan. That is a wide gap. Over many years a difference of 1.20 percentage points in yearly cost takes a visible bite out of final value, which is why many investors compare the plans closely before choosing.
There is no entry load. An exit load of 1% applies if you redeem within 365 days, and nothing is charged after that. A full year is a long lock-in for a charge, so a first-year redemption is expensive compared with schemes that have shorter windows. Plan your cash needs so you do not have to sell inside the first twelve months.
These are base figures stated on the scheme page. Look up the latest published ratio for your own plan before you invest, because costs can be revised over time, and keep a note of the date you checked.
Risks the scheme document spells out
The riskometer shows Very High. The scheme document also states that there is no assurance the objective will be achieved. Like any equity fund it can fall sharply in a weak market, and the Shariah and ethical screen does not soften that.
A second group of risks comes from the screen. When a company loses its permitted status, the manager must sell it, and that sale can happen at a poor price. The restricted list also leaves the fund with fewer choices, because conventional financial services are excluded under the screening rules. A manager working with a smaller pool has less room to spread risk, and any single disappointing sector then weighs more heavily on results.
A third issue is information. Taurus documents carry different dates and index names, and the portfolio analysis dated 2021 is years old. Readers who prefer clean, current disclosure should ask for the latest factsheet and the current scheme information document in writing. Keep each reply together with the date you received it, so you can compare it with any later change in the scheme.
Fund manager change is another variable. The April 2023 scheme document says Anuj Kapil has managed the scheme since 1 November 2022. Check who runs the fund at the time you invest.
Questions to settle before you invest
Start with your purpose and time frame. Money you may need within a year does not belong in a very-high-risk equity scheme with a one-year exit load. Next, decide whether the Jain-inspired element of the screen is acceptable to you alongside the Shariah element. A holding period of several years suits a scheme of this kind better than a short one.
Ask the fund house three concrete things: who the current Shariah or ethical advisor is, what the latest compliance certificate says, and how the fund handles income purification, which the 2009 launch material advised. Keep the replies with your investment records.
Then compare plans, complete KYC with your identity and address documents, and choose between SIP and lump sum according to your cash flow. If something goes wrong with a securities product, the SEBI SCORES system is where complaints are lodged. No fund can promise returns, and no label replaces a scholar’s opinion on whether the structure suits your conscience.