HDFC Retirement Savings Fund - Hybrid Equity Plan - Regular Plan

Suitability:

When you invest for five years or above, you can expect gains that comfortably beat the inflation rate and are also higher than fixed income options. But be prepared for ups and downs in your investment value along the way.

Aggressive hybrid funds invest 65-80% of your money in equity shares and the rest in bonds and commodities. Their returns are slightly lower than pure equity funds which invest all your money in shares, but they also fall relatively less when the stock markets decline. This makes them suitable for conservative equity investors or first-time equity investors who are not used to its sharp ups and downs.

Like all equity-linked investments, you must invest only through the SIP route. Click here to read a primer on SIP investing.

Warning: Do not invest in this, or any other aggressive hybrid fund, if you need to redeem your investment in less than five years.

Taxability of earnings:

Capital gains

• If the mutual fund units are sold after 1 year from the date of investment, gains upto Rs 1 lakh in a financial year are exempt from tax. Gains over Rs 1 lakh are taxed at the rate of 10%.
• If the mutual fund units are sold within 1 year from the date of investment, entire amount of gain is taxed at the rate of 15%.
• No tax is to be paid as long as you continue to hold the units.

Dividends

• Dividends paid by the mutual fund scheme are taxed at the rate of 10% (effectively 11.648%, including surcharge and cess). This is known as Dividend Distribution Tax (DDT). Though the investor does not pay this tax directly, it is deducted from the dividend income before passing on to the investor.