I have suffered a capital loss of 22-28 per cent on my investment in balanced funds. As per the objective, one should at least expect them to minimise the overall loss, if not protect the capital. Please advise whether one should keep balanced funds in my portfolio. I have been investing in DSPBR Balanced, HDFC Prudence and Magnum Balanced since last two years.

Achieve steady growth with balanced funds

Business Standard

In 2004, UTI Mutual Fund was the first fund to enter the infrastructure sector with a thematic fund. Thereafter, this theme has attracted so much interest that almost all the fund houses have tagged along and launched their own funds.

Theme widened to include other sectors

HDFC Bank, the country&rsquo;s second largest private bank, has decided to lower interest rates on retail loans by up to 200 basis points, while lending rates on corporate loans will be pared by 100-150 basis points.

HDFC Bank cuts lending rates by up to 200 basis pts

Before investing, do the calculations properly.

No safety in numbers

Taxpayers, usually, start investing in 80C instruments in December or January. No wonder, both asset management companies (AMCs) and insurance providers launch tax-savings schemes in these two months.

Zero tax, Yet good Returns

Most people are quite confused between mediclaim and critical illness policies. Unlike mediclaim policies that have been around for a long time, very few people have a critical illness policy. However, mediclaim and critical illness insurance serve two different purposes and are in fact, two completely different products.

Health cover options

With the financial year coming to an end in March, it's time to submit the investment declaration to your respective companies. For those who have not completed their tax planning yet, there could be last minute investment decisions that may impact their tax benefits.Saving tax requires proper planning and periodic reviewing.

Investment declaration

Unwilling to divest in a hurry its holding in dividend-paying blue chip companies, LIC today asked insurance regulator Irda for guidance on how and by when it should comply with the regulation to cap an insurance firm&rsquo;s exposure in individual firms at 10 per cent.

No hurry to divest stakes to below 10%: LIC

Press Trust of India

With the rising cost of health cover, insurance companies are looking at innovative products to attract customers. The latest offering is top-up insurance that comes at almost half the premium.

Now top up your medical insurance

In the 2008-09 Budget, the government had set a target of Rs 2,80,000 crore for agriculture credit. With the debt waiver scheme, almost 40 million new farmers have become eligible for fresh agricultural loans.

Farm loan demand set to surge

Ulips still top list of product filings with Irda.

Insurers rush to launch schemes

The latest round of interest rate cuts began today with Punjab National Bank (PNB) and IndusInd Bank announcing reductions in their benchmark prime lending rates (BPLRs) by 50 basis points (bps) and 25 bps respectively.

PNB, IndusInd cut interest rates further

Following Religare&rsquo;s acquisition of Lotus India asset management company (AMC), other AMCs are going that extra mile to gain confidence of the investing public.

MFs try to quell investor fears

Say cost of funds too high to lower lending rates.

Home loan firms not to cut rates

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has asked banks to act on the basis of local rules when sanctioning loans for farmers to build houses on agricultural land.

Go by local rules to give loans for houses on farm land: RBI

Uncertainty in global financial markets and its repercussions on India have made domestic fund managers go cautious on Indian equities, forcing them to sell shares and hoard cash in equity funds.

MFs emerge net sellers in equity market

When Priyanka Jhamanani (name changed) bought her friends&rsquo; flight tickets for over Rs 1.25 lakh, the last thing on her mind was a notice from the income tax (IT) department.

Taxman keeps eye on high-value deals

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, or Sebi, today said investors will not be allowed to exit close-ended mutual fund schemes before they mature and asked fund houses to list them on stock

Sebi restricts early exits from close-ended funds

Five equity-diversified funds beat the indices significantly.

Five equity-diversified funds beat the indices significantly

Most life insurance policies cover terrorism. Even the process is often simpler.

Cover for terror

Calculating the percentage fall or gain is a wrong way of looking at numbers.

What do the numbers say?

Personal Finance: Read about the smart strategies for Personal Finance Planning, Investing, Insurance, banking, budgeting, loans Tax Planning, retirement and insurance. Browse Business Standard to learn more on Personal Finance.

Personal Finance: Investing, Planning, Retirement, Loans, & Insurance | Business Standard

Read about the smart strategies for Personal Finance Planning, Investing, Insurance, banking, budgeting, loans Tax Planning, retirement and insurance. Browse Business Standard to learn more on Personal Finance.

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