NISM Series XIX-A Syllabus: AIF (Category I and II) Distributors
All 13 chapters of the AIF (Category I and II) Distributors workbook, and what each one covers.
NISM Series XIX-A (also searched as NISM 19 A) is the voluntary certification for people who distribute or place Category I and Category II Alternative Investment Funds (AIFs) in India. Its curriculum has 13 units: the asset class and its vocabulary (1 to 3), regulation, structure, risk and the fund's process (4 to 7), the investor's side (8 to 10), then valuation, Indian tax and distributor conduct (11 to 13).
NISM does not publish a weightage for any XIX-A unit; any site showing marks per chapter has made the number up. What NISM does publish is the unit list with sub-topics, which the table below follows.
All 13 units at a glance
Unit titles as NISM's curriculum names them, with the sub-topics each one lists.
| Unit | What it covers |
|---|---|
| 1. Overview of Alternative Investments | What alternative investments are, alpha vs beta, their role in a portfolio |
| 2. Alternative Investment Funds in India | Evolution and types of AIFs in India, the three categories compared, suitability |
| 3. Concepts in the AIF Industry | Industry vocabulary: sponsor and capital commitment, drawdown, fees, preferred return, waterfall, closes, PPM, term sheet, ESG |
| 4. AIF Regulatory Framework | SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations 2012 and the general provisions of FEMA 1999 |
| 5. Alternative Investment Fund Structuring | Pooling, anatomy of an AIF's constitution, structuring templates |
| 6. Risk and Return: Fund and Investor Perspective | Risk and return basics, investor risks in an AIF, return metrics, the J curve, a worked case |
| 7. Investment Process and Governance of Funds | Deal sourcing, due diligence, definitive agreements, investor protection rights, governance |
| 8. Fund Due Diligence: Investor Perspective | Fund selection, evaluating the manager, benchmarking, the distributor's sales strategy |
| 9. Legal Documentation and Negotiation: Investor Perspective | Trust or LLP deed, investment management agreement, subscription agreement, PPM, support services agreements |
| 10. Fund Monitoring, Reporting and Exit | Monitoring and reporting, secondaries, portfolio exits, winding up and dissolution |
| 11. Valuation | Fixed income, equity and business valuation approaches, valuing fund investments, valuation regulations, role of valuers |
| 12. Taxation: India Specific | AIF taxation, business vs investment income, non-residents, GAAR, GST, stamp duty, FATCA and CRS |
| 13. Good Practices | Distributor role and agreement, distribution pitch, pre and post sale services, confidentiality, unfair trade practices, conflict of interest |
Units 1 to 3: the asset class and its vocabulary
Unit 1 separates alpha (return from manager skill) from beta (return from the market) and places alternatives in a portfolio. Unit 2 brings this to India: how AIFs grew, how the three categories compare, and who the product suits.
Unit 3 is the glossary of the whole paper. A commitment is the amount an investor promises; a drawdown is the fund calling part of it; the waterfall is the order in which cash is distributed between investors and the manager; the PPM is the document that describes the fund to prospective investors. Every later unit assumes these terms.
Units 4 to 7: rules, structure and the fund's own process
Unit 4 is the rulebook: the SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations 2012 plus the parts of FEMA 1999 that matter when money comes from outside India. Unit 5 explains pooling and why an AIF is usually set up as a trust.
Unit 6 is the numbers unit: investor risks, return metrics, and the J curve (returns look negative in early years because fees are charged before investments mature). Unit 7 follows the manager from sourcing a deal to signing definitive agreements, and the protection rights an investor negotiates.
Free account, this exam preselected.
Units 8 to 10: the investor's side
These three units are where a distributor's job sits. Unit 8 is how an investor should choose a fund and judge its manager, ending with sales strategy formulation by the distributor. Unit 9 goes document by document through what the investor signs.
Unit 10 covers the years after the cheque is written: reporting, early exit through secondaries, portfolio exits and winding up.
Units 11 to 13: valuation, tax and conduct
Unit 11 is the longest technical unit: valuing bonds, equity, whole businesses and then the fund itself, by the asset based, discounted cash flow and multiples approaches. Unit 12 covers Indian tax for the fund and its investors, including how business income differs from investment income.
Unit 13 is the conduct unit: the distributor's role and agreement, a fair distribution pitch, services owed before and after sale, confidentiality, and the bans on unfair trade practices and conflicts of interest.
How XIX-A tests the syllabus
The paper is 80 single MCQs of 1 mark plus 5 case studies with 4 questions of 1 mark each, with 0.10 marks deducted for a wrong answer. Units 1 to 5 produce definition and rule questions. Units 6, 11 and 12 produce calculations. Units 7 to 10 and 13 are a likely source of case studies (NISM does not say which units the cases use): a fund's terms or a reporting lapse, and what the distributor should do. The common trap is answering from Category III or mutual fund rules. Category I and II funds are close-ended and do not trade daily, so liquidity, exit and valuation answers differ.
FAQs
How many chapters are there in the NISM XIX-A syllabus?expand_more
13 units, from Overview of Alternative Investments (unit 1) to Good Practices (unit 13), as listed on NISM's curriculum page for Series XIX-A.
What is the chapter-wise weightage for NISM Series XIX-A?expand_more
NISM does not publish one; any unit percentage you see for XIX-A is not from NISM. Weight your study towards unit 3 (vocabulary), unit 4 (regulations) and units 8 to 10 (the investor's side), which feed the case studies.
What are Category I, II and III AIFs?expand_more
The SEBI (Alternative Investment Funds) Regulations 2012 sort AIFs into three categories. Category I invests in areas the regulator wants to encourage: start-ups, SMEs, social ventures, infrastructure. Category II is everything in neither of the other two, such as private equity and debt funds. Category III uses complex trading strategies and may use leverage, such as hedge funds. XIX-A focuses on Category I and II.
Is NISM XIX-A the exam for AIF fund managers?expand_more
No. XIX-A is for distributors and placement agents of Category I and II AIFs. The managers' certifications are separate: NISM Series XIX-C (Alternative Investment Fund Managers) and XIX-D (Category I and II AIF Managers). Category III distributors have their own paper, Series XIX-B.
What types of alternative investments does the syllabus cover?expand_more
Unit 1 introduces alternatives as an asset class; unit 2 narrows to the Indian AIF route: venture capital, private equity, debt and infrastructure style funds in Categories I and II. It does not name or rank specific funds.
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