An exit load is a charge, as a percentage of the amount redeemed, taken when units are sold or switched out within a set period of buying.
Some funds charge a fee if you leave early. The exit load is a percentage of the value you redeem, deducted before the money is paid to you. It is credited back to the scheme, so it goes to the investors who stay.
Common patterns:
For example, you redeem ₹1 lakh of an equity fund eight months after buying, with a 1% exit load within a year. The fund deducts ₹1,000 and pays you ₹99,000.
The load applies purchase by purchase. Units are redeemed oldest first, so with a SIP, older instalments may be past the period while recent ones are not. A switch to another scheme is treated as a redemption unless the scheme waives the load for it.
Each scheme's terms are in its SID and KIM. A change to the exit load applies only to purchases made after it.
Sell units by number or by amount on the fund house's website or app, MF Central or the registrar. Cut-off times, when the money arrives, exit load and tax.
When the money from a redemption reaches your bank: the cut-off, the redemption date, the working days after it for liquid, debt, equity and overseas funds, and what can hold a payment up.
Each fund page has its returns, risk, costs, managers and everything it holds.