Glossary
Every idea on the site, A to Z. Filter by industry, or search for the term you heard in the meeting.
- AlphaFundsReturn above the benchmark — the manager's actual value-add, if any survives the fee. Most of it doesn't.
- Annualised Premium EquivalentAPEInsuranceThe standard way to size life new-business sales: regular premium plus 10% of single premium — the life-side top line.
- Asset Classification (Standard → Loss)BankingOnce a loan turns NPA it's graded down: standard → sub-standard → doubtful → loss.
- Assets Under ManagementAUMFundsThe total pool a fund manages — the base the whole economics scale on, and what TER is charged on.
- Benchmark & TRIFundsThe index a fund must be measured against — beat it after cost, or the investor is paying active fees for a closet tracker.
- BetaFundsHow much the fund moves with the market — its sensitivity to the index, and a first read on how aggressive it is.
- CAGRCAGRFundsCompound annual growth rate — the smoothed annual return over a period. Right for a single lumpsum, misleading for a SIP.
- Capital Adequacy (CRAR)CRARBankingThe bank's own capital measured against its risk-weighted assets — the cushion before depositors are touched.
- CASA RatioCASABankingThe share of deposits in current and savings accounts — higher means cheaper funding and a stronger margin.
- Cash Reserve RatioCRRBankingThe slice of every deposit a bank must park at RBI as cash, earning nothing.
- Claims Settlement RatioInsuranceThe share of claims paid versus claims received — the trust metric, and the one number retail buyers actually shop on, especially in life.
- Combined RatioInsuranceLoss ratio plus expense ratio in one number — below 100% the insurer profits on insurance itself; above 100% it needs the float to bail it out.
- Commissions & Distribution CostInsuranceWhat insurers pay agents, bancassurance partners and brokers to bring in premium — the largest single slice of the expense ratio.
- Cost of FundsBankingThe blended average rate a bank pays on all its money — its purchase price for the cash it lends out.
- Cost vs PerformanceFundsThe one relationship the data keeps proving: lower cost, better odds. How to read a fund's factsheet and results together.
- Cost-to-Income RatioBankingOperating costs as a share of income — what running the bank eats per rupee earned.
- Credit CostBankingProvisions as a % of loans — the per-rupee cost of bad lending that eats profit.
- Credit GrowthBankingHow fast the loan book expands — the volume lever that grows NII even at a flat spread.
- Credit-Deposit RatioCD ratioBankingHow hard the balance sheet is working — advances as a share of deposits, and a liquidity flag.
- Debt FundsFundsFunds that lend: returns come from interest plus rate moves, carrying credit risk and duration risk most buyers underestimate.
- Deposit GrowthBankingHow fast deposits grow — the fuel, and the ceiling on how much you can lend.
- Direct vs Regular PlansFundsThe same fund at two prices — 'regular' bakes in a distributor commission, 'direct' doesn't, often 0.5–1% of your return a year, forever.
- Embedded ValueEVInsuranceThe consolidated value of a life insurer: net worth plus the present value of the in-force book — the number life insurers are actually valued on.
- Equity FundsFundsFunds that invest in stocks — large, mid, small, flexi — and the risk/return that follows the market cap they chase.
- ETFsETFFundsIndex funds that trade on the exchange like a stock — so price and NAV can drift apart, and you need a demat account and a buyer.
- Exit LoadFundsA short-term redemption penalty that protects long-term holders from other people's churn.
- Expense RatioInsuranceCommissions plus operating expenses as a percentage of premium — the cost of sourcing and running the book.
- Expenses of Management (EoM) LimitsEoMInsuranceIRDAI's cap on how much an insurer can spend on commissions plus expenses combined — a ceiling on the expense ratio.
- Folio GrowthFundsUnique investor accounts — the reach metric behind the AUM, and the signal of how wide the habit has actually spread.
- Gross & Net NPA RatioGNPA / NNPABankingBad loans as a share of all loans — gross before provisions, net after.
- Gross ReturnFundsThe portfolio's raw return before costs — what the fund manager actually produced, and the only number marketing likes to show.
- Gross Written PremiumGWPInsuranceThe headline top line — all the premium an insurer contracts to collect in a year, before a rupee is ceded or earned.
- Hybrid FundsFundsFunds that blend equity and debt — balanced advantage, aggressive, conservative — to soften the ride.
- IBNR ReservesIBNRInsuranceMoney set aside for claims Incurred But Not Reported — the insurer's estimate of trouble it has already caused but not yet seen.
- Index FundsFundsPassive funds that copy an index at rock-bottom cost, betting that the cheap average beats most active managers after fees.
- Insurance FloatInsuranceThe pool of policyholders' money an insurer holds between premium-in and claim-out — effectively free money to invest, the CASA-analogue.
- Investment IncomeInsuranceReturns earned on the float and shareholder funds — the second profit engine, and the one that rescues a combined ratio above 100%.
- IRAC NormsIRACBankingRBI's uniform rulebook for when banks must stop booking interest on bad loans and provide.
- Life Product MixInsuranceThe blend of Par, Non-Par, ULIP and pure Protection — the single biggest driver of margin, because protection and non-par are high-margin and ULIPs thin.
- Liquid & Overnight FundsFundsPark-your-cash funds: very short-maturity debt, low risk, a better home for idle money than a savings account.
- Liquidity Coverage RatioLCRBankingEnough high-quality liquid assets to survive 30 days of stressed outflows (Basel III).
- Loss Ratio (Claims Ratio)InsuranceClaims incurred as a percentage of earned premium — the single biggest cost line, and the truest read on underwriting quality.
- Lumpsum vs SIPFundsWhen a one-shot investment beats drip-feeding and when it doesn't — the decision every investor faces and usually gets on vibes.
- Mark-to-MarketFundsWhy NAV moves every day — the portfolio is repriced to the market at each day's close.
- Mortality & Morbidity MarginInsuranceProfit from pricing mortality and morbidity risk above actual claims experience — the underwriting profit inside a life policy.
- Motor Third-Party (Tariff)InsuranceThe one price IRDAI still fixes — a structurally loss-making line every general insurer is obliged to write.
- NAV Cut-off & ApplicabilityFundsWhich day's NAV you get depends on when your money actually reaches the fund — a rule that quietly matters for large lumpsums.
- Net Asset ValueNAVFundsThe per-unit price of a fund — (assets − liabilities) ÷ units, struck once a day. The atom everything else is measured in.
- Net Earned PremiumNEPInsuranceThe real revenue line — premium actually earned in the period, after reinsurance ceded and the unexpired-risk portion set aside.
- Net FlowsFundsThe real growth number: gross sales mean nothing if redemptions match them. What actually moves AUM.
- Net Interest IncomeNIIBankingThe actual rupee profit from lending — interest earned minus interest paid.
- Net Interest MarginNIMBankingThe spread engine in one number.
- Net ProfitPATBankingThe bottom line: what's left after provisions and tax.
- Net Profit (Insurer)InsuranceUnderwriting result plus investment income, minus tax — where both general-insurance engines finally meet.
- Net Return (after TER)FundsWhat actually lands in your NAV once cost is stripped out — the honest number, and the one the whole map points at.
- Non-Interest IncomeBankingThe money a bank makes when it isn't lending.
- Persistency RatioInsuranceThe share of policies still paying premium at 13/25/37/49/61 months — the lifeblood of life economics, because lapsed policies destroy the value assumed at sale.
- Pre-Provision Operating ProfitPPOPBankingOperating profit before any bad-loan hit — the cleanest read on engine strength.
- Priority Sector LendingPSLBankingRBI's mandate to lend a set share of credit to agriculture, MSME, and other priority sectors.
- Product & Pricing RegulationInsuranceIRDAI's File-&-Use / Use-&-File regime governing which products and prices an insurer can take to market.
- Provision Coverage RatioPCRBankingThe share of a bank's bad loans it has already set aside provisions against.
- ProvisioningBankingProfit set aside to cover a bad loan — taken now, long before any write-off.
- Rate Adequacy / PricingInsuranceWhether the price charged actually covers expected claims plus costs plus a margin — or whether the insurer is buying market share at a loss.
- Rate TransmissionBankingHow an RBI rate cut reaches a customer's EMI — fast on EBLR loans, slow on MCLR.
- RBI & the Repo RateBankingThe rate RBI charges banks to borrow overnight — the price every other rate is built on.
- Reading a Bank's ResultsBankingA bank's whole health reads off about seven numbers you can scan in five minutes.
- Reading a Fund FactsheetFundsA fund's whole story reads off one factsheet page — if you know which six numbers to check and which to ignore.
- Reading an Insurer's ResultsInsuranceHow to read a general and a life insurer's disclosures together — which numbers matter, and which flatter.
- Recovery & Write-offsBankingWhat happens after a loan is fully provided: write it off, then chase it via SARFAESI, IBC, or an ARC sale.
- ReinsuranceInsuranceInsurance for insurers — ceding part of the risk, including the mandatory GIC Re cession, to cap exposure on any single event.
- Required Solvency MarginRSMInsuranceThe regulatory capital cushion IRDAI forces an insurer to hold against its liabilities, so it can pay claims even after a bad year.
- Return on Equity (Insurer)ROEInsuranceThe bottom-line return where underwriting profit, investment income and — for life — embedded-value growth all resolve. The end of the spine.
- ROA / ROEROA / ROEBankingProfit measured against the bank's assets, and against shareholders' money.
- Rolling ReturnsFundsReturn measured across many overlapping periods instead of one — it kills the cherry-picked start date that flatters point-to-point numbers.
- Rupee-Cost AveragingFundsWhy fixed-rupee investing quietly buys more units when prices fall and fewer when they rise — the maths that makes SIP work.
- SEBI Fund CategorizationFundsThe 2017 rulebook that forced every fund into a defined box, so 'large cap' or 'multicap' means the same thing across every AMC.
- Sharpe RatioFundsReturn per unit of risk — the standard risk-adjusted scorecard, and the honest way to compare a calm fund with a wild one.
- SIPSIPFundsInvesting a fixed sum every month — the habit, not a product, that built India's mutual fund industry.
- SMA Stress BucketsSMABankingEarly-warning buckets — SMA-0/1/2 — that flag a loan sliding toward the 90-day NPA line.
- Solvency RatioInsuranceAvailable capital divided by the required solvency margin — IRDAI mandates a minimum of 150%. The insurer's capital-adequacy verdict, the CRAR analogue.
- Standard DeviationFundsHow bumpy the ride is — the spread of a fund's returns, and the risk half of every risk-adjusted number.
- Statutory Liquidity RatioSLRBankingThe slice of deposits a bank must hold in government bonds instead of lending out.
- Surrender Value & the Exit PenaltyInsuranceWhat a policyholder gets back on walking away early — and the 2024 rule change that made leaving less punishing and life margins thinner.
- Tax: the Second Silent DragFundsTER is the drag you never see; tax is the one you only see at exit — the last subtraction before the return is actually yours.
- Technical Reserves / Policy LiabilitiesInsuranceThe money legally parked against future claims — what the float actually is on the balance sheet, and what solvency is measured against.
- TER Slabs & AUM ScaleFundsSEBI caps the base expense ratio on a sliding scale — the bigger the fund, the less it's allowed to charge. Scale is supposed to reach the investor.
- The Bank Balance SheetBankingTwo sides — money the bank owes versus money it lends out; the gap is profit.
- The SIP BookFundsThe industry's monthly recurring SIP inflow — sticky, predictable AUM that keeps coming regardless of the market. The CASA / float analogue.
- The Treasury BookBankingThe bond and investment portfolio beyond SLR — where rate moves become mark-to-market gains or losses.
- Total Expense RatioTERFundsThe all-in annual cost of a fund as a % of assets, skimmed from NAV a little every day — the fee you never get a bill for.
- Total Return vs Price ReturnFundsWhy reinvested dividends matter, and why a fund must be judged against a Total Return Index, not a bare price index.
- Tracking ErrorFundsFor passive funds: how far an index fund or ETF drifts from the index it's meant to copy — the quality test for passive.
- UnderwritingInsuranceThe craft of deciding which risks to accept, reject, or reprice — the quality control on every rupee of premium.
- Underwriting ResultInsuranceThe rupee profit or loss from pure insurance, before a single rupee of investment income — the cleanest read on the core engine.
- Value of New BusinessVNBInsuranceThe present value of all future profits expected from this year's new policies — life insurance's real 'sales' number, not premium.
- VNB MarginInsuranceVNB as a percentage of APE — the profitability of new life business in one number, the life-side analogue to the combined ratio.
- What an NPA Is (the 90-Day Rule)NPABankingA loan turns NPA when interest or principal goes unpaid for more than 90 days.
- What's Inside the TERFundsManagement fee + admin + distribution commission + GST — the parts that add up to the number you pay.
- Why Branches Push CASACASABankingA deposit is not just a deposit — CASA is the cheapest money a bank can raise, and every rupee of it widens the margin.
- XIRRXIRRFundsThe real return when you invest in bits (a SIP) — it accounts for the timing of every instalment. The number that actually reflects a SIP investor's experience.
- Yield on AdvancesBankingThe blended rate a bank earns across its whole loan book — money's selling price.
Nothing here for that industry yet.