LIC MF Arbitrage Fund - Regular Plan

Suitability:

Arbitrage funds invest in equity shares and derivatives and earn their returns through price differential between a stock and its futures. By investing in these funds, you can expect to earn better returns than what you would get from a bank account.

Arbitrage funds keep their equity investments fully hedged, which basically means that their returns are not impacted by the day-to-day ups and downs of the stock market. The risk of incurring a loss in these funds is low but they do not guarantee returns or safety of capital.

Retail investors can avoid these funds altogether. We believe that liquid funds are a better alternative with a somewhat similar risk-return payoff but better liquidity.

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.