Placing a mutual fund purchase before 3 PM does not, on its own, get you that day's price. The mutual fund cut-off time works on two conditions: your order must arrive in time, and so must your money. Net Asset Value (NAV), a fund's per-unit price, is published by 11 PM for most schemes, so you never know it when you order. Start with the timings, then check the money.
Mutual Fund Cut-Off Time at a Glance (as on October 2026)
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) sets these timings for every mutual fund.
Scheme | Transaction | Cut-off | NAV you get |
Equity and debt* | Purchase, switch-in | 3:00 PM | Same day's, if your money arrives by 3 PM |
Equity and debt* | Redemption, switch-out | 3:00 PM | Same day's |
Liquid and overnight | Purchase, switch-in | 1:30 PM | Previous day's, if your money arrives by 1:30 PM |
Liquid | Redemption, switch-out | 3:00 PM | Day before the next business day |
Overnight | Redemption | 3:00 PM offline, 7:00 PM online | Day before the next business day |
*Excluding liquid and overnight funds. Source: SEBI FAQs for Mutual Fund Investors and SEBI's April 2025 circular.
New to NAV? Read how NAV in mutual funds works. The 3 PM rows also cover most debt mutual funds. A switch moves money between two schemes of one fund house.
Also Read: To understand how mutual funds differ by investment objective and structure, explore the Different Types of Mutual Funds.
The Cut-Off Time for Mutual Fund Purchases Runs on Three Clocks
When you buy, your NAV depends on whichever clock finishes last.
• The time the fund stamps on your order.
• Your platform's own deadline, which may come earlier.
• The moment your money reaches the fund, ready to use.
That third clock is called fund realisation. Since 1 February 2021, it decides purchase NAVs for every scheme and every amount, as the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) explains. This covers lumpsums, Systematic Investment Plan (SIP) instalments and switch-ins, online or on paper.
If your money arrives before your application, the application's time stamp decides your NAV.
Redemptions are simpler: only your request time counts.
Also Read: Before choosing a scheme, understand the differences between Direct Growth vs Regular Mutual Funds and how their structures differ.
How the MF NAV Cut-Off Time Plays Out: Three Examples
The first two follow AMFI's illustrations.
A ₹50,000 lumpsum ordered before 3 PM on a Thursday. If the money reaches the fund before 3 PM, you get Thursday's NAV; at 5 PM, Friday's. If it reaches the fund at 4 PM on Friday, Monday's NAV applies, since Saturday and Sunday are not business days.
A ₹5,000 SIP instalment due on the 10th. Your debit date is not automatically your NAV date: you get the 10th's NAV only if the money reaches the fund before 3 PM that day. Otherwise, the next business day it arrives in time sets the NAV.
Switching schemes. The outgoing leg follows the redemption cut-off and the incoming leg follows the purchase cut-off. Before switching mutual funds, check both.
Going Deeper: Liquid Fund NAVs and the 7 PM Overnight Window
Liquid and overnight funds have a NAV even for Sunday, a non-business day. Money usable by 1:30 PM gets the previous day's NAV. In SEBI's own example, money realised by 1 PM on a Monday gets Sunday's NAV. Money realised at 3 PM that day gets Monday's NAV. Worth knowing before you park cash in liquid funds.
Overnight funds also get a later redemption window: since 1 June 2025, a request placed online has a 7 PM cut-off. Offline requests still close at 3 PM, and the later timing does not apply to liquid funds. SEBI made the change to give brokers time after market hours.
Before You Place Your Order: A Quick Checklist
Before you order:
• Confirm your scheme type's cut-off in the table above.
• Check whether your platform sets an earlier order deadline.
• Pay electronically, such as through UPI or net banking, not by cheque.
• Avoid funding a large purchase late on a Friday afternoon.
• Keep your SIP amount in your bank account before the debit date.
Keep the cut-off in proportion. Nobody knows the day's NAV when ordering, so timing your order around 3 PM for a better price is guesswork. In a 10-year monthly SIP, any single instalment is one of 120. The SIP calculator shows how those instalments add up over time.
The Bottom Line
Getting the NAV you expect means beating the cut-off on all three clocks. Your order, your platform's deadline and your money's arrival must each land before it. Plan around the slowest of the three, and leave yourself a buffer before the cut-off. When you are ready to invest in mutual funds, Indiabulls Securities lets you explore schemes and start a SIP from ₹100 a month. Before your next order, check your scheme's cut-off and give your money time to arrive.
