Direct Equity
Equity is typically referred to as shareholder equity (also known as shareholders equity) which represents the amount of money that would be returned to a company’s shareholders if all of the assets were liquidated and all of the companys debt was paid off.

Equity is found on a companys balance sheet and is one of the most common financial metrics employed by analysts to assess the financial health of a company. Shareholder equity can also represent the book value of a company. Equity can sometimes be offered as payment-in-kind.

Equity Mutual Funds

An Equity Fund is a Mutual Fund Scheme that invests predominantly in shares/stocks of companies. They are also known as Growth Funds.

Equity Funds are either Active or Passive.  In an Active Fund, a fund manager scans the market, conducts research on companies, examines performance and looks for the best stocks to invest. In a Passive Fund, the fund manager builds a portfolio that mirrors a popular market index, say Sensex or Nifty Fifty.

Furthermore, Equity Funds can also be divided as per Market Capitalisation, i.e. how much the capital market values an entire company’s equity. There can be Large Cap, Mid Cap, Small or Micro Cap Funds.

Also, there can be further classification as Diversified or Sectoral / Thematic. In the former, the scheme invests in stocks across the entire market spectrum, while in the latter it is restricted to only a particular sector or theme, say, Infotech or Infrastructure.

Thus, an equity fund essentially invests in company shares, and aims to provide the benefit of professional management and diversification to ordinary investors.

Portfolio Management Services (PMS)
Portfolio management is the art and science of making decisions about investment mix and policy, matching investments with objectives, asset allocation for individuals and institutions, and balancing risk against performance. Portfolio management is all about determining strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the choice of debt vs. equity, domestic vs. international, growth vs. safety, and many other trade-offs encountered in the attempt to maximize return at a given appetite for risk.
Although it is common to use the terms "portfolio management" and "financial planning" as synonyms, these staples of the financial services industry are not the same. Portfolio management is the act of creating and maintaining an investment account, while financial planning is the process of developing financial goals and creating a plan of action to achieve them. Professional licensed portfolio managers are responsible for portfolio management on behalf of others, while individuals may choose to self-direct their own investments and build their own portfolio. Portfolio managements ultimate goal is to maximize the investments expected return given an appropriate level of risk exposure.

Long / Short Strategies
Long/short equity is an investing strategy that takes long positions in stocks that are expected to appreciate and short positions in stocks that are expected to decline. A long/short equity strategy seeks to minimize market exposure while profiting from stock gains in the long positions, along with price declines in the short positions. Although this may not always be the case, the strategy should be profitable on a net basis.

The long/short equity strategy is popular with hedge funds, many of which employ a market-neutral strategy, in which amount of both long and short positions are equal.

Long/short equity works by exploiting profit opportunities in both potential upside and downside expected price moves. This strategy identifies and takes long positions in stocks identified as being relatively under-priced while selling short stocks that are deemed to be overpriced.

Stock Lending and Borrowing (SLB)
Stock Lending and Borrowing (SLB)is a system in which traders borrow shares that they do not already own, or lend the stocks that they own but do not intend to sell immediately.

Just like in a loan, SLB transaction happens at a rate of interest and tenure that is fixed by the two parties entering the transaction. However, there are some differences – crucially, the rate of interest is market-determined and free of control. Only stocks in the futures and option segment can be borrowed and lent.

a)Participant Eligibility
All Clearing members of NSE Clearing including Banks and Custodians referred to as Participants are eligible to participate in SLBS. In order to participate in SLBS, clearing members have to register as Participants in SLBS.

b)Eligible Securities
Currently, securities available for trading in F&O segment of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. (NSE) are permitted.
Securities lending and borrowing is permitted in dematerialized form only.

c)Period of lending
The tenure of lending and borrowing ranges from 1 month up to a maximum period of 12 months.