ICICI Prudential Retirement Fund - Pure Debt Plan

Suitability:

Medium Duration debt funds invest mainly in bonds maturing in about three to four years. They aim to earn better returns than bank fixed deposits of a similar duration. The risk of incurring a loss in these funds over the said time frame is low, but they do not guarantee returns or safety of capital.

Retail investors can avoid these funds altogether. We believe that Short Duration funds are a better alternative for the fixed-income allocation in an investor’s portfolio.

We also believe that investors with an investment horizon of more than three years may consider investing some portion of their money in equity funds to earn higher returns. They witness more severe ups and downs than debt funds but the possibility of incurring a loss reduces with an increase in one’s investment horizon.

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.