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These schemes offer tax rebates to the investors under specific provisions of the Indian Income Tax laws as the Government offers tax incentives for investment in specified avenues. Investments made in Equity Linked Savings Schemes (ELSS) and Pension Schemes are allowed as deduction u/s 88 of the Income Tax Act, 1961. The Act also provides opportunities to investors to save capital gains u/s 54EA and 54EB by investing in Mutual Funds.

Industry Specific Schemes invest only in the industries specified in the offer document. The investment of these funds is limited to specific industries like Infotech, FMCG, Pharmaceuticals etc.

Index Funds attempt to replicate the performance of a particular index such as the BSE Sensex or the NSE 50.

Sectoral Funds are those which invest exclusively in a specified sector. This could be an industry or a group of industries or various segments such as 'A' Group shares or initial public offerings.

Mutual Funds offer several benefits to an investor that unmatched by the other investment options. The major benefits are good post-tax returns and reasonable safety, the other benefits in investing in Mutual Funds are.

Mutual Funds provide the services of experienced and skilled professionals, backed by a dedicated investment research team that analyses the performance and prospects of companies and selects suitable investments to achieve the objectives of the scheme.

The best mutual funds design their portfolios so individual investments will react differently to the same economic conditions. For example, economic conditions like a rise in interest rates may cause certain securities in a diversified portfolio to decrease in value. Other securities in the portfolio will respond to the same economic conditions by increasing in value. When a portfolio is balanced in this way, the value of the overall portfolio should gradually increase over time, even if some securities lose value.

Investing in a Mutual Fund reduces paperwork and helps you avoid many problems such as bad deliveries, delayed payments and follow up with brokers and companies. Mutual Funds save your time and make investing easy and convenient.

Mutual Funds have the potential to provide a higher return to an investor than any other option over a reasonable period of time.

In open-end schemes, the investor gets the money back promptly at net asset value related prices from the Mutual Fund. In closed-end schemes, the units can be sold on a stock exchange at the prevailing market price or the investor can avail of the facility of direct repurchase at NAV related prices by the Mutual Fund.

Mutual fund expenses are often no more than 1.5 percent of your investment. Expenses for Index Funds are less than that, because index funds are not actively managed. Instead, they automatically buy stock in companies that are listed on a specific index.

Investment in Mutual Funds offers a lot of flexibility with features of schemes such as regular investment plan, regular withdrawal plans and dividend reinvestment plans enabling systematic investment or withdrawal of funds.

Small investors with low investment fund are unable to high-grade or blue chip stocks. An investor through Mutual Funds can be benefited from a portfolio including of high priced stock.

You get regular information on the value of your investment in addition to disclosure on the specific investments made by your scheme, the proportion invested in each class of assets and the fund manager's investment strategy and outlook.

All Mutual Funds are registered with SEBI and they function within the provisions of strict regulations designed to protect the interests of investors. The operations of Mutual Funds are regularly monitored by SEBI.

Your financial goals will vary, based on your age, lifestyle, financial independence, family commitments, and level of income and expenses among many other factors. Therefore, the first step is to assess your needs.You can begin by defining your investment objectives and needs which could be regular income, buying a home or finance a wedding or educate your children or a combination of all these needs, the quantum of risk you are willing to take and your cash flow requirements.

The important thing is to choose the right mutual fund scheme which suits your requirements. The offer document of the scheme tells you its objectives and provides supplementary details like the track record of other schemes managed by the same Fund Manager. Some factors to evaluate before choosing a particular Mutual Fund are the track record of the performance of the fund over the last few years in relation to the appropriate yardstick and similar funds in the same category. Other factors could be the portfolio allocation, the dividend yield and the degree of transparency as reflected in the frequency and quality of their communications. For selecting the right scheme as per your specific requirements.

Investing in just one Mutual Fund scheme may not meet all your investment needs. You may consider investing in a combination of schemes to achieve your specific goals.

The best approach is to invest a fixed amount at specific intervals, say every month. By investing a fixed sum each month, you buy fewer units when the price is higher and more units when the price is low, thus bringing down your average cost per unit. This is called rupee cost averaging and is a disciplined investment strategy followed by investors all over the world. You can also avail the systematic investment plan facility offered by many open end funds.

It is desirable to start investing early and stick to a regular investment plan. If you start now, you will make more than if you wait and invest later. The power of compounding lets you earn income on income and your money multiplies at a compounded rate of return.

You may reap the rewards in the years to come. Mutual Funds are suitable for every kind of investor - whether starting a career or retiring, conservative or risk taking, growth oriented or income seeking.

• ALLIANCE CAPITAL MUTUAL FUND
• BENCHMARK MUTUAL FUND
• BIRLA MUTUAL FUND
• BOB MUTUAL FUND
• BOI MUTUAL FUND
• CANBANK MUTUAL FUND
• CHOLAMADALAM CAZENOVE MUTUAL FUND
• DSP MERRILL LYNCH MUTUAL FUND
• DUNDEE MUTUAL FUND
• ESCORTS MUTUAL FUND
• FIRST INDIA MUTUAL FUND
• GIC MUTUAL FUND
• HDFC MUTUAL FUND
• IDBI-PRINCIPAL MUTUAL FUND
• IL&FS MUTUAL FUND
• INDIAN BANK MUTUAL FUND
• INDFUND MANAGEMENT LTD
• ING SAVINGS MUTUAL FUND
• JARDINE FLEMING MUTUAL FUND
• JEEVAN BEEMA SAHAYOG ASSET MANAGEMENT PVT LTD
• JM MUTUAL FUND
• JF MUTUAL FUND
• KOTAK MAHINDRA MUTUAL FUND
• LIC MUTUAL FUND
• MORGAN STANLEY MUTUAL FUND
• PIONEER ITI MUTUAL FUND
• PNB MUTUAL FUND
• PRUDENTIAL ICICI MUTUAL FUND
• RELIANCE MUTUAL FUND
• SBI MUTUAL FUND
• SHRIRAM MUTUAL FUND
• STANDARD CHARTERED MUTUAL FUND
• SUNDARAM MUTUAL FUND
• SUN F&C MUTUAL FUND
• TATA MUTUAL FUND
• TAURUS MUTUAL FUND
• TEMPLETON MUTUAL FUND
• UNIT TRUST OF INDIA
• ZURICH INDIA MUTUAL FUND