Why Debt MFs Instead Of Conventional Fixed Income Instruments?

Small Savings Schemes or Post Office Saving Schemes are very popular in India as people prefer investing money in instruments backed by the Government of India.

- Vishal Borwankar

These are the schemes that aim at providing secure investments with guaranteed returns. These post office schemes are launched to encourage the savings habit amongst investors. The Post Office Saving Schemes include a bucket of products that offer risk-free returns and good interest rates.

Nine schemes launched under Post Office Saving Schemes are:

• Post Office Savings Account

• 5-Year Post Office Recurring Deposit Account

• Post Office Time Deposit Account

• Post Office Monthly Income Scheme Account

• 5- Year Senior Citizen Savings Scheme

• 15-Year Public Provident Fund Account

• National Savings Certificates

• Kisan Vikas Patra

• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana Scheme

For most Indians, traditional savings seem a natural choice, but debt funds offer variety and convenience.

Debt funds offer a well-diversified portfolio as compared to traditional debt instruments with absolute transparency in terms of portfolio disclosure. There are various categories of debt funds to choose from, that offer different average maturities of the underlying instruments with varying degrees of credit risks. From a post-tax return on investment perspective, investing in a debt fund is advantageous with a holding period of over 3 years being eligible for getting taxed as Long-Term Capital Gains, thereby offering indexation benefit.