How to Start Investing with smallcases – A Comprehensive Guide (2025)

smallcases are modern investment products that help investors build low-cost, long-term, and diversified portfolios with ease. They are curated model portfolios of stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that are designed to reflect a specific idea, theme, strategy, or investment objective. 

All smallcases are created by SEBI-registered investment experts, and are offered through the smallcase platform – enabling retail investors in India to invest in these portfolios directly from their broking / demat accounts.

This article provides an overview of smallcases, explaining what they are and how to start investing in them.

What are smallcases?

A smallcase is a basket or portfolio of stocks/ETFs representing an idea – an objective, theme, or strategy. For instance:

• Sectoral smallcases enable you to track and invest in specific sectors, such as pharma, FMCG, energy, IT, and more
• Thematic smallcases enable you to track and invest in themes such as the rise of rural India, Atmanirbhar Bharat, green energy, the electric vehicle ecosystem, and more
• Moreover, smallcases also expose investors to specific investment strategies such as momentum, dividend, growth, and more

smallcase portfolios are built using a rule-based approach, meaning each portfolio’s stock/ETF list is chosen based on specific criteria and underlying strategy. These criteria could include a company’s financial health, growth potential, or position in a particular sector.

Who creates smallcases?

The smallcases are created and managed by SEBI-registered investment professionals (also known as smallcase managers) with years of experience in the stock market. The constituents in every smallcase pass stringent proprietary filters that reflect the underlying strategy. 

The smallcase managers offer periodic rebalance updates to their smallcases to ensure that the underlying stocks/ETFs and their weights of a smallcase remain true to the smallcase’s theme or strategy.

Advantages of Investing in smallcases

smallcases offer an alternative to direct stock investing and traditional products by providing curated portfolios of stocks or ETFs that follow specific themes, strategies, or objectives. Here’s an overview of their features:

1. Diversification and Thematic Exposure: smallcases allow investors to diversify their portfolios across multiple sectors, asset classes, and capitalisations. With over 500+ ready-made themes and strategies, you can align your portfolio to your investment objectives.

2. Professional Curation: All smallcases are created and managed by SEBI-registered investment professionals, ensuring adherence to regulatory standards. This means you benefit from the expertise of experienced financial experts without having to spend time researching individual stocks or market trends.

3. Transparency and Control: When you invest in a smallcase, you own the stocks and ETFs directly in your demat account. This way, you retain control over your holdings and can sell or modify them at any time. There are no lock-in periods or expense ratios (apart from platform fees), and you’re always in control.

4. Regular Rebalancing and Portfolio Tracking: smallcases are periodically rebalanced by their managers to keep your portfolio aligned with its original investment objective. However, the decision to apply the rebalance update is entirely yours, giving you complete control over your portfolio. Investing via smallcases ensures that you receive periodic rebalance updates for your portfolio from the smallcase manager and efficiently track your portfolio’s performance.

5. Integration with Broker Accounts: smallcase integrates seamlessly with India’s leading broker platforms, allowing you to manage your investments directly from your brokerage account, ensuring a smooth and convenient experience.

6. Create your own smallcase: The smallcase platform enables you to create your very own basket of stocks/ETFs, invest in it and track its performance. Simply select the stocks or ETFs according to your investment strategy, specify the weight, and create the smallcase. Once created, you can invest in your smallcase, compare its historical performance with equity indices, and track its real-time performance.

How to invest in smallcases?

Here’s a simple 3-step process:

1) Log in and connect your broker account

• Head over to the smallcase website or download the app
• Log in with your phone number
• Connect your broker account. You can also choose to skip this step and do it at the time of investment

2) Select your smallcase

Next, you need to select the smallcase you want to invest in. You can choose from various objectives, themes, investment strategies, and more. Here are some quick ways you can get started:

• Trending smallcases: In the app’s homepage, you’ll find 3 sections – Most invested, Most Watchlisted, and Most SIP’d. These lists are a great way to get a pulse of the most popular smallcases on the platform.
• Collections: These are groups of smallcases that follow a specific selection criteria. Examples include Last Month’s Most Invested, Ideal for New Investors, Dividend Growth and more.
• Readymade Filters: Head over to the Discover page on the app or our website and use the various filters to find smallcases that might interest you. You can filter smallcases according to the minimum investment amount, volatility, investment strategies, and more.

Pro tip: You can also watchlist smallcases that interest you. You’ll be able to access these smallcases from the Watchlist page, and track their returns from the day you add them to the watchlist.

3) Invest 

• Once you have chosen your smallcase, click the Invest Now button.
• You’ll be prompted to log in with your broking account. smallcase supports India’s top brokers. In case you don’t have a broker account, you can open one here.
• Upon completing the investment action, the constituent stocks and ETFs of the smallcase get credited directly into your demat account, making you the legal owner of the securities. 
• You can also view the smallcases you have invested in, along with their performance and other details, on the Investments page.

Wrapping it up

With smallcase, investors can easily access and invest in a portfolio that aligns with their investment goals and preferences. This platform offers a seamless and hassle-free way to invest in the stock market, with minimum paperwork and low fees. Whether you’re a seasoned investor or a beginner, smallcase offers 500+ readymade stock baskets for every need, and can help you create a well-diversified investment portfolio.