ICICI Prudential Overnight Fund

Suitability:

Overnight funds invest in bonds having maturity of just one day (hence the name 'Overnight'). They are suitable for institutional investors looking to park their surplus money for a few days or weeks to earn a bit extra on the sum which would otherwise lie idle in a bank account. The risk of incurring a loss in these funds is negligible but they do not guarantee returns or safety of capital.

Retail investors can avoid these funds altogether. Here's why. Debt funds are very finely classified depending upon the maturity of the bonds they invest in. For instance, there's a different category of funds that invests in bonds of up to 3 months maturity, from the one that invests in bonds maturing in 3-6 months, and so on. We believe that such a nuanced classification adds little value to retail investors. They can avoid this complexity and simply invest the money they don't need for up to the next one year in a Liquid fund.

Taxability of earnings:

Capital gains

• If the mutual fund units are sold after 3 years from the date of investment, gains are taxed at the rate of 20% after providing the benefit of inflation indexation.
• If the mutual fund units are sold within 3 years from the date of investment, entire amount of gain is added to the investors' income and taxed according to the applicable slab rate.
• 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 25% (effectively 29.12%, 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.