LIC MF Short Term Debt Fund - Regular Plan

Suitability:

Short Duration debt funds invest mainly in bonds maturing in a period of one to three years. They are suitable for investment horizons of one to three years, or for the fixed-income allocation in your longer-term portfolio. You can expect to earn higher returns than what a bank fixed deposit can fetch.

The risk of incurring a loss in these funds is low, but they do not guarantee returns or safety of capital like a bank deposit. There have been instances when short duration funds have incurred losses.

Remember, their returns may not be substantially higher than inflation. They are meant to deliver steady, but low to moderate returns and are not suitable to build wealth in the long run.

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 are added to the income of the investors and taxed according to their respective tax slabs. Further, if an investor's dividend income exceeds Rs. 5,000 in a financial year, the fund house also deducts a TDS of 10% before distributing the dividend.