JioBlackRock Flexi Cap Fund Adds Gold and Silver ETFs

JioBlackRock Mutual Fund has expanded the investment universe of its Flexi Cap Fund, allowing the scheme to invest up to 20% of its assets in gold and silver ETFs. The revised asset allocation takes effect from August 26, 2026, as part of changes made to align its schemes with SEBI’s updated mutual fund categorisation framework.

For investors, the important distinction is that up to 20% is a permitted limit, not a target allocation. The fund remains a flexi cap equity scheme, with at least 65% of its portfolio required to stay in equity and equity-related instruments.

What has changed in the JioBlackRock Flexi Cap Fund?

Under the revised framework, the JioBlackRock Flexi Cap Fund can invest across equities, liquid assets, mutual fund units, gold and silver ETFs, and InvITs.

Here is how the new asset allocation compares with the earlier framework.

Asset class	Earlier allocation	Revised allocation
Equity and equity-related instruments	65% to 100%	65% to 100%
Debt and money market instruments	0% to 35%	Reworked into money market, other liquid instruments and mutual fund units, up to 35%
Gold and silver ETFs	Not separately permitted	0% to 20%
REITs and InvITs	0% to 10%	InvITs up to 10%

The biggest change for investors is clearly the introduction of gold and silver ETF exposure of up to 20%.

The changes are part of a wider revision affecting six JioBlackRock Mutual Fund schemes. According to reports on the AMC’s notice-cum-addendum, the revisions are intended to align the schemes with Part IV, “Categorization and Rationalization of Mutual Fund Schemes,” of SEBI’s Master Circular for Mutual Funds dated March 20, 2026.

Does this mean 20% of the fund will go into gold and silver?

No. The JioBlackRock Flexi Cap Fund can invest anywhere from 0% to 20% in gold and silver ETFs. It does not have to maintain a 20% allocation.

That distinction matters.

The change gives the fund manager another asset allocation option. Depending on market conditions and the fund’s investment strategy, actual exposure could be much lower than the maximum allowed, or even zero.

In fact, the fund was still overwhelmingly equity-oriented shortly before the new rules took effect. Available portfolio data showed an equity allocation of about 99.36%.

Investors should therefore avoid interpreting the announcement as an immediate shift of one-fifth of the portfolio from stocks to precious metals.

Why add gold and silver ETFs to a flexi cap fund?

Gold and silver can behave differently from equities during certain market conditions. Giving a fund manager access to these assets can potentially add another source of diversification.

Gold can act as a portfolio diversifier

Gold does not always move in the same direction as stocks. It may perform differently during periods of market stress, inflation concerns, currency weakness, or geopolitical uncertainty.

That does not mean gold always rises when equities fall. Correlations change over time. Still, the ability to use gold ETFs gives the fund another tool beyond changing allocations between large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap stocks.

Silver brings a different risk-return profile

Silver is a precious metal, but its price is also influenced by industrial demand. It is used across areas such as electronics, solar technology and manufacturing.

As a result, silver can be more volatile than gold.

A silver ETF allocation could provide diversification, but it can also introduce additional commodity-price volatility. Investors should not assume that adding silver automatically makes an equity portfolio safer.

ETFs offer a practical way to get commodity exposure

Rather than holding physical gold or silver, the fund can invest through exchange-traded funds.

Gold and silver ETFs are market-traded investment products designed to provide exposure to the underlying commodity. For a mutual fund, ETFs provide a regulated and operationally convenient route for taking such exposure.

Is JioBlackRock Flexi Cap Fund becoming a multi-asset fund?

No. It remains a flexi cap fund.

Its core mandate continues to be investing across large-cap, mid-cap and small-cap companies. The revised allocation still requires 65% to 100% of assets to be invested in equity and equity-related instruments.

This is important because a multi-asset allocation fund has a different investment mandate and diversification structure.

The JioBlackRock scheme is still fundamentally an equity fund. Gold and silver ETFs simply become additional instruments that the portfolio can use within the permitted limits.

What does the change mean for existing investors?

Existing investors do not need to assume that their portfolio composition will change dramatically on August 26.

The revised mandate gives the fund greater flexibility. What matters next is how that flexibility is actually used.

Investors may want to monitor:

• The fund’s monthly gold ETF allocation
• Its silver ETF exposure
• Changes in overall equity allocation
• Whether commodity exposure is tactical or maintained for longer periods
• How the allocation affects volatility and performance
• Whether the strategy continues to fit their own asset allocation

The fund’s official page describes it as an open-ended dynamic equity scheme investing across market capitalisations. Its benchmark is the Nifty 500 TRI, and JioBlackRock classifies its risk level as “Very High.”

Does adding gold and silver make the fund less risky?

Not necessarily.

Diversification can help reduce dependence on a single asset class, but gold and silver have risks of their own. Commodity prices can move sharply because of global interest rates, currency movements, economic expectations, industrial demand and geopolitical events.

Silver, in particular, can experience large price swings.

The fund also remains predominantly equity-oriented because at least 65% must be allocated to equities and equity-related instruments. Investors should therefore not view the addition of precious metals as turning the scheme into a low-risk or balanced product.

JioBlackRock currently places the Flexi Cap Fund in the Very High Risk category.

How does the change affect diversification?

Previously, diversification within a flexi cap portfolio primarily came from the fund manager’s ability to move across companies, sectors and market capitalisations.

The new framework potentially adds asset-class diversification.

For example, suppose a hypothetical portfolio had:

• 80% in equities
• 10% in liquid or permitted instruments
• 7% in gold ETFs
• 3% in silver ETFs

Its precious-metals exposure would be 10%, well within the 20% permitted ceiling.

This is only an illustration, not JioBlackRock’s actual or proposed portfolio.

The key point is that the fund manager now has greater freedom to combine equity exposure with precious metals when the investment process calls for it.

Should investors still buy separate gold or silver funds?

That depends on how you manage your portfolio.

If you want a specific and controlled allocation to gold or silver, holding a dedicated gold or silver investment separately gives you more control over the percentage.

With the JioBlackRock Flexi Cap Fund, the allocation is controlled by the fund manager and can change. An investor cannot instruct the scheme to keep, for example, exactly 10% in gold.

There is another consideration. If you already hold separate gold or silver ETFs, funds, or other commodity-linked investments, any precious-metal allocation inside this flexi cap fund adds to your overall exposure.

Looking at your portfolio as a whole is therefore more useful than judging this change in isolation.

What should investors watch from here?

The most useful information will come from future portfolio disclosures.

The JioBlackRock Flexi Cap Fund had an AUM of about ₹3,242.82 crore as of August 19, 2026, according to the AMC’s fund page. It was launched in October 2025 and is benchmarked against the Nifty 500 TRI.

Future disclosures should show whether the fund managers actually use the newly permitted gold and silver ETF allocation and, if they do, to what extent.

For investors, that actual allocation matters more than the maximum 20% limit written into the scheme mandate.

FAQs

Key takeaways

• JioBlackRock Flexi Cap Fund can now invest up to 20% in gold and silver ETFs.
• The revised allocation takes effect from August 26, 2026.
• The 20% figure is a maximum limit, not a compulsory allocation.
• The fund remains a flexi cap equity scheme, with 65% to 100% allocated to equity and equity-related instruments.
• Gold and silver give the fund manager an additional diversification tool, but they also introduce commodity-specific risks.
• Investors should watch future portfolio disclosures to see how much gold and silver exposure the fund actually takes.
• Existing investors should evaluate the change in the context of their total equity, gold and silver exposure rather than treating the new limit as an automatic portfolio allocation.