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| Lower returns but tax benefits for HNIs |
| Tinesh Bhasin / Mumbai Mar 12, 2010, 00:41 IST |
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In the last one month, some of the fund houses have launched capital protection schemes targeting fixed deposit investors. These schemes propose to invest 85 per cent of the corpus in debt and the rest in equities.
For example, the new fund offer (NFOs) of IDFC Mutual Fund’s Capital Protection Oriented Fund (Series 1) is open for subscription. Birla Sun Life’s Capital Protection Oriented Fund (Series 1) closed its NFO on March, 10. Both fund houses have sought permission to launch three similar schemes.
“These schemes are targeted towards people in the highest tax bracket because they will give better returns and tax benefits over fixed deposits,” said A Balasubramanian, chief executive officer, Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund.
Capital protection funds are close-end products that have a lock-in for the entire product tenure. Fund houses list these schemes on stock exchanges a few months after collecting the money. As a result, the investor wishing to exit in the interim would have to sell at the exchanges. However, in the absence of a secondary market, investors would have to sell it at a discount. “The buying and selling is not as per the net asset value (NAV) of the product, but is a factor of demand and supply,” said Malhar Majumder, a certified financial planner.
These funds are not new. Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund had launched three schemes in 2006-07. However, the returns are not so impressive. The three-year scheme, Capital Protection 3 Year, has returned 8.03 per cent annually, since its launch in May 2007 whereas the five-year scheme has given annual returns of 9.27 per cent. Market experts believe that these returns were constricted because of weak stock markets. “These returns were recorded at a time when the stock market had corrected over 55 per cent. The returns could have been higher if the equity markets did not see a similar correction during the tenure of the product,” said Chintamani Dagade, senior research analyst at Morningstar.
The minimum amount of investment of the two new schemes is Rs 5,000. The funds follow CRISIL MIP-blended index as the benchmark. There is no entry or exit load.
“There is potential for better returns compared to fixed deposit but an investor needs to consider the lock-in before making investments in close-ended product,” added Majumder.
The product could work well for the high net-worth individuals who want to play it safe, yet earn more than fixed deposits. These products can give better returns than bank fixed deposits because of the equity element. These products give an additional advantage when it comes to paying taxes as well. Returns from fixed deposits are added as a part of the income and taxed, accordingly. Obviously, for individuals in the highest income bracket, the returns get taxed at 30 per cent. But returns from these schemes get inflation indexation benefits. Therefore, an investor is taxed at the rate of 10 per cent without indexation and 20 per cent with indexation.
“As per our debt portfolio, we are targeting annual returns of 8 per cent. This would help the investor get reasonable returns over a three-year period,” said, Ashwin Patni, fund manager at IDFC Mutual Fund
Financial planners, however, are not too gung-ho about the product. The reason: it does not have any direct tax benefits like an equity-linked savings scheme (ELSS). Also, the liquidity of these schemes is significantly lower because an investor cannot exit, even with a load, immediately. They suggest investing that part of the portfolio, which an investor will not require in the next three years. For example, a person planning to buy a house after three-four years can look at this scheme.
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