Portfolio Management Services
A portfolio manager runs a concentrated portfolio of twenty to forty companies inside an account that belongs to you. You see every holding and every trade, and the shares sit in your own name rather than in a pooled scheme.
Every strategy the desk can place is listed below with its return, its benchmark and the worst fall it has had. Zenith does not rank them.
Portfolio Management Services carry a minimum investment of ₹50 lakh. That is set by SEBI, it applies to every portfolio manager in India, and there are no exceptions to it. Every strategy on this page carries it.
Once an account is open, managers accept top-ups at their own minimums, which run from ₹10,000 to ₹10 lakh depending on the strategy. Each card states its own.
If ₹50 lakh is not where you are today, that is a threshold rather than a judgment, and mutual funds do most of what this does without it.
Both are professionally managed equity portfolios. The difference is what you own, and it changes the tax, the visibility and the minimum.
| Portfolio Management Service | Mutual fund | |
|---|---|---|
| Who holds the shares | You do. The shares sit in a demat account in your own name and you are the beneficial owner of each one. | The fund does. You hold units in a pooled scheme, not the underlying shares. |
| What you can see | Every holding, every trade, every charge, in your own account, at any time. | A monthly portfolio disclosure for the whole scheme, and your unit balance. |
| Minimum investment | ₹50 lakh, set by SEBI. | ₹100 to ₹5,000 for most schemes. |
| How fees work | A fixed management fee, often with a performance fee above a threshold, plus brokerage, custody and audit billed separately. | One expense ratio, capped by SEBI, with everything inside it. |
| When you are taxed | Every sale inside your account is a taxable event in your own hands, in the year it happens, whether or not you withdrew anything. | Only when you redeem your units. Trading inside the scheme is not your taxable event. |
| Customisation | The mandate can exclude a sector or a stock you do not want to own. | None. Everyone in the scheme owns the same portfolio. |
| Getting your money out | Days rather than hours, and an exit load may apply in the early years. | Redemption at the next applicable NAV, usually settled in two to three working days. |
| Regulation | SEBI (Portfolio Managers) Regulations 2020. Each manager gives you a Disclosure Document before you sign. | SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations 1996, with a Scheme Information Document. |
Introduces you to the strategies on this page and services the relationship afterwards. Zenith never holds your money, your shares or the mandate, and does not choose a strategy for you.
The distribution route. Zenith reaches these products as a Motilal Oswal franchise partner, and the paperwork and onboarding run through them.
Holds the SEBI registration, holds the discretionary mandate, makes every buy and sell decision, and answers for the outcome. Nine different firms appear on this page.
Three of the fourteen strategies below are managed by Motilal Oswal group companies. The other eleven are not: they belong to independent portfolio managers, each with its own SEBI registration and its own Disclosure Document. A reader who assumes one firm runs all fourteen has misunderstood what they would be buying.
This is every PMS strategy the desk can place, listed in full. It is not a selection from a longer list, it is not ordered by preference, and Zenith does not rank these or tell you which to choose.
Where these figures come from
Performance is as reported by each portfolio manager to the regulator, calculated on a time-weighted basis net of all fees and expenses. Zenith computes none of it.
Every return and every asset figure on this page is taken from APMI's investment-approach performance report, which is where SEBI-registered portfolio managers file their monthly numbers and which anyone can open. All fourteen were checked against it on 18 August 2026, and each card names the exact investment approach the figure belongs to so you can find the row yourself.
Past performance does not indicate future returns, and the worst fall shown beside each figure is what has already happened rather than a limit on what could.
Performance information reported by a portfolio manager is not verified by SEBI. Every figure below can be checked at APMI, the Association of Portfolio Managers in India, and each card links to its manager’s own disclosure.
As on 31 Jul 2026 · Performance and assets from APMI, the industry body portfolio managers report to
Spreads across equity, debt and commodities, so it moves least with the equity market and gives up some of the upside for that.
Kotak · Holds mutual fund schemes, not shares directly
Return, net of fees
Second row is Nifty Multi Asset, same periods.
The largest listed companies, which fall less in a bad year and rarely produce the returns the smaller end can.
Renaissance
Return, net of fees
Second row is Nifty 50 TRI, same periods.
A base of large companies with mid caps added for growth. More volatile than large cap alone.
Abakkus
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Alchemy
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
The manager moves between large, mid and small as they see fit, so what you own changes with their view rather than with a mandate.
Buoyant
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Motilal Oswal AMC
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Motilal Oswal AMC
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
No market-cap constraint at all. The widest discretion on this page, and the outcome depends most on the manager.
Motilal Oswal Wealth Management · Holds mutual fund schemes, not shares directly
Return, net of fees
Second row is Nifty 50 TRI, same periods.
Renaissance
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Unifi
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Smaller companies, higher growth, and the deepest falls on this page. Every strategy here has fallen more than a quarter at some point.
Abakkus
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Carnelian
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Motilal Oswal AMC
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Built around one idea rather than a spread of them. If the theme stops working, there is nothing else in the portfolio to carry it.
Marathon
Return, net of fees
Second row is S&P BSE 500 TRI, same periods.
Two of the strategies listed above invest in mutual fund schemes rather than directly in shares. For those two you hold units in the underlying schemes rather than the shares themselves, and the mutual fund risk disclosure applies.
These are concentrated portfolios of twenty to forty stocks. The gold bar is what each has returned since it started; the plum bar below the line is the worst fall it has had along the way. Both are drawn to the same scale, and they are not independent of each other.
A reader who would sell at the bottom of one of these should not be in one. That is the most useful thing this chart can tell you, and it is the reason it is here.
Broad market, same measure, for scale
The index carries no since-inception figure here on purpose. Since inception runs from each strategy’s own start date, so there is no single index number comparable to all fourteen, and inventing one would be the misleading version of “for scale”.
Not necessarily, and this is the question a reader splitting a crore across two strategies most needs answered. Two portfolios from the same manager can hold four fifths of the same companies, which means the money is in one position paying two sets of fees.
Renaissance Opportunities Portfolio and Renaissance India Next
81%23 stocks in both, which is 81% of the first and 71%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Motilal Oswal Founders Strategy and Motilal Oswal Value Migration
62%16 stocks in both, which is 62% of the first and 58%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Marathon Trend Following and Alchemy Smart Alpha 250
36%8 stocks in both, which is 36% of the first and 9%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Abakkus All Cap Approach and Buoyant Opportunities Portfolio
35%8 stocks in both, which is 35% of the first and 30%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Motilal Oswal Mid to Mega and Motilal Oswal Value Migration
34%9 stocks in both, which is 25% of the first and 34%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Motilal Oswal Founders Strategy and Motilal Oswal Mid to Mega
28%7 stocks in both, which is 28% of the first and 19%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Alchemy Smart Alpha 250 and Renaissance India Next
26%8 stocks in both, which is 26% of the first and 15%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Buoyant Opportunities Portfolio and Renaissance Opportunities Portfolio
25%5 stocks in both, which is 14% of the first and 25%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Abakkus All Cap Approach and Abakkus Emerging Opportunities Approach
22%6 stocks in both, which is 22% of the first and 21%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Buoyant Opportunities Portfolio and Renaissance India Next
22%5 stocks in both, which is 12% of the first and 22%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Abakkus All Cap Approach and Renaissance Opportunities Portfolio
21%5 stocks in both, which is 18% of the first and 21%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Carnelian Shift Strategy and Alchemy Smart Alpha 250
20%7 stocks in both, which is 20% of the first and 11%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Buoyant Opportunities Portfolio and Motilal Oswal Value Migration
16%4 stocks in both, which is 9% of the first and 16%of the second. The two percentages differ because each is measured against that strategy’s own holding count.
Pairs the Motilal Oswal partner deck publishes an overlap for, being 13 of the possible combinations. Three of the fourteen strategies are absent from that matrix, so a pair not listed here is one the source does not cover rather than one with no overlap.
Fees are where PMS differs most from a mutual fund, and where the surprises live. There is no single expense ratio with everything inside it.
Per the fee schedule
Charged on the value of your portfolio each year, usually billed quarterly, whether the portfolio rose or fell. Each manager states its own in the Disclosure Document.
Above a threshold
A share of the gain above an agreed hurdle rate, subject to a high water mark. Both terms are explained below, because they decide what the fee actually costs you.
Nil to 2.0%
Typically in year one only, then nil, across the strategies listed above. Two managers charge into year two. Each card states its own schedule.
Billed separately
Brokerage on every trade, custody and depository charges, audit and fund accounting, plus GST. These are charged to your account on top of the management fee, and they are the ones people do not expect.
The return the manager has to clear before any performance fee is due. A 10% hurdle on a 14% year means the fee applies to the 4% above it, not to the whole 14%.
The highest value your portfolio has previously reached. After a fall, the manager earns no performance fee until the portfolio is back above that level, so you never pay twice for the same gain.
Zenith is paid by the portfolio manager out of the fees above, as a share of the distribution commission, and never by you directly. Nothing on this page costs you more for having come through Zenith, and nothing Zenith earns varies in a way that would make one of these strategies worth more to us than another. How Zenith is paid.
These portfolios hold twenty to forty stocks, against several hundred in a diversified equity fund. That is the point of the product and it is also the risk: one position going wrong moves the whole portfolio in a way it could not in a fund.
The manager buys and sells without consulting you, within the mandate you signed. You will see each trade after it happens, not before it. If being unable to veto a decision would trouble you, this is the wrong structure.
Redemption runs in days rather than hours, the manager has to sell real positions to fund it, and an exit load may apply in the first year or two. This is not money to hold against a possible need next quarter.
Unlike a mutual fund, trading inside your PMS account creates capital gains in your own return in the year it happens, whether or not you withdrew anything. A high-turnover strategy can produce a tax bill in a year you took nothing out.
The person whose name is on the strategy is often why people choose it. Fund managers move firms, and a strategy is not obliged to perform the same way after they do.
Past performance of a strategy or a manager says nothing reliable about the future, and the worst fall shown beside each figure is what has already happened rather than a limit on what could.
Before any strategy is discussed: how long the money can stay invested, and what you would do in a year it falls a quarter. The second question decides more outcomes than the first.
SEBI requires every portfolio manager to give you theirs before you sign anything. It carries the fee schedule, the risk factors and the manager's own reported performance. Read it rather than the brochure.
PAN, Aadhaar, bank proof and an in-person or video verification, then the portfolio management agreement with the manager you chose.
Opened for you, with a limited power of attorney letting the manager transact within the mandate. The shares are yours throughout, and the power of attorney does not let anyone move money out to a third party.
Money moves from your own bank account to your own PMS account. Managers usually deploy over some weeks rather than in a single day.
Holdings, transactions and charges, monthly, direct from the manager, plus the annual reporting SEBI requires. Zenith sees what you see.
Zenith never holds your money or your securities at any point in this. Funds move between your own bank account and your own PMS account, and the shares sit in a demat account in your name.
₹50 lakh. SEBI sets it under the Portfolio Managers Regulations 2020 and it applies to every portfolio manager in the country, so no manager can accept less. Top-ups after the account is open are smaller and vary by strategy, from ₹10,000 to ₹10 lakh.
You own the shares directly, in a demat account in your own name, rather than owning units in a pooled scheme. That brings full visibility of every holding and trade, the ability to exclude something from the mandate, and a tax consequence: each sale inside your account is a taxable event for you in the year it happens.
Yes, and it is the difference people most often miss. Because you own the shares, every sale the manager makes creates a capital gain or loss in your own tax return that year, even if you withdrew nothing. In a mutual fund only your own redemption is taxable. Rates are the same; the timing is not.
It means the portfolio manager buys and sells within your account without asking you first, under the terms you agreed when you signed. You see each transaction after it happens. Non-discretionary mandates exist, where the manager proposes and you approve, but the strategies listed here are discretionary.
For twelve of the fourteen strategies here, yes: a demat account is opened in your name and every share sits in it. The two fund-of-funds strategies hold mutual fund schemes instead, so there you hold units rather than shares. Zenith holds neither, in either case.
The strategy continues under whoever the portfolio manager appoints next. There is no automatic right to exit on a manager change, though you can redeem subject to the exit load. If a specific person is your reason for choosing a strategy, that is worth saying out loud before you sign.
Yes. There is no lock-in, but redemption takes days rather than hours because real positions have to be sold, and an exit load usually applies in the first year and sometimes the second. Each strategy's schedule is on its card above.
It is a share of the gain above a hurdle rate, subject to a high water mark. If the hurdle is 10% and the portfolio returns 14%, the fee applies to the 4% above it. The high water mark means that after a fall, no performance fee is charged until the portfolio passes its previous peak, so you do not pay twice for the same recovery.
Every SEBI-registered portfolio manager reports investment-approach performance monthly on a time-weighted basis net of all fees, and APMI publishes it on an open website. Every figure on this page can be checked there, and each card links to the manager's own disclosure as well.
No. Zenith is an AMFI-registered distributor, not a SEBI-registered investment adviser, and does not rank or shortlist these strategies. The full list is published here so you can see the whole shelf, and the choice is yours after a conversation about horizon and temperament.
Yes, through an NRE or NRO account with a PIS approval, and some managers restrict US and Canada persons. The paperwork is heavier than for a resident and the tax treatment depends on your country of residence, so it is worth raising at the first conversation rather than at signing.
Zenith never holds it. Funds move between your own bank account and your own PMS account, the shares sit in a demat account in your name, and the portfolio manager is a separately SEBI-registered firm. Zenith introduces and services the relationship and is paid by the manager, not by you.
No obligation, and no application
Answering these gives Rajesh ji enough context to be useful on the first call rather than spending it on basics. It is an enquiry, not an application, and it commits you to nothing.
