AlphaGrep, one of India’s largest proprietary trading firms by exchange volume, opened its first mutual fund NFO on July 6, a multi-asset allocation fund that uses the same quantitative models the firm has run on global exchanges for 16 years.
The AlphaGrep Multi Asset Allocation Fund (AGMAAF) invests across equities, fixed income, gold, silver, copper and crude oil, with its asset allocation rebalanced every week using statistical models rather than a fund manager’s discretion. The fund opens at a minimum SIP of ₹500.
“Algorithmic investing has been at the core of AlphaGrep’s DNA for over a decade… we are democratising institutional-grade algorithmic investing for retail investors,” said Bhautik Ambani, CEO of AlphaGrep Mutual Fund.
The fund’s case rests on a critique of how most multi-asset funds are currently run. According to AlphaGrep, industry data shows roughly 60–65 per cent of the average multi-asset fund portfolio sits in equities, with allocations that barely change year to year. Ambani compared this to a cricket captain “who has decided the team of 11 and play them in different pitches like India, Australia, or England without much changes.”
AGMAAF gives each of the three asset classes a meaningful range, equities and fixed income can each go from 10 per cent to 60 per cent, and commodities from 10 per cent to 40 per cent. As of late June, the model was running at roughly 34 per cent equity, 21 per cent commodities and the rest in fixed income. The fund will also take exposure to REITs and InvITs as income-generating assets.
Commodity basket
What sets the fund apart from most peers is its commodity basket. While most multi-asset funds hold gold as a token commodity allocation, AGMAAF plans to take positions in gold, silver, copper and crude oil futures, asset classes AlphaGrep already trades on international exchanges.
On the risk question that retail investors are likely to ask, Ambani pointed to a 20-year backtest. A static 60 per cent equity allocation would have delivered 11–11.5 per cent CAGR with a peak drawdown of 60 per cent. The firm’s dynamic model, by contrast, showed 14 per cent CAGR with a peak drawdown of 13 per cent and an annualised volatility of 7.5 per cent. “In most scenarios they would have made double-digit CAGR… there is not a single two-year rolling period where the fund would have delivered negative returns,” he said.
Track record
The firm’s live track record in India spans roughly four years, a Cat III AIF running a long-short strategy at 13–13.5 per cent gross returns, and a PMS that was up 17 per cent post-fee over three years as of May 2026, beating its benchmark by 3–3.5 per cent annualised.
Ambani acknowledged that the biggest challenge ahead is not the model itself, but distribution. “The only challenge… is communicating this message to retail investors… it’s a different way of investing,” he said. AlphaGrep is leaning on MFDs and national distributors rather than building its own sales network, and is developing an AI-based research tool for distributor partners as a differentiator.
The firm plans to follow AGMAAF with a flexi-cap fund, an arbitrage fund, a balanced advantage fund and schemes under the new SIF category, targeting ₹20,000–30,000 crore in India AUM over the next three to five years.