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If you are planning to invest in tax saving mutual funds or equity linked savings schemes to save taxes, you should remember the following points.

SEBI also prescribed more disclosures around environment, social and governance (ESG) issues.

The new timeline will come into force from July 1, 2023, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) said in a circular.

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ETMutualFunds considered equity and equity-oriented schemes such as large cap, small cap, multi-cap, flexi cap, mid cap, large & mid cap, aggressive hybrid, arbitrage fund, multi asset allocation, and dynamic asset allocation categories for the analysis.

Sandeep Bagla, CEO of TRUST AMC, predicts that bond funds could perform well in 2024 due to increased yields and a potential decrease in inflation. He advises retail investors to turn to mutual funds rather than going direct to access equity markets as a fund manager has more resources to determine the long-term value of a company. Bagla believes that global diversification in 2023 could be better than in 2022 and suggests focusing on longer-term factors and values during periods of volatility.

Three fixed maturity plans, two gilt funds, one dynamic asset allocation, ELSS, fund of fund, ETF, and index fund are currently open for subscription in the market.

In addition to debt mutual fund schemes, there are several other categories that are treated as debt for taxation, which will lose indexation benefits.

The markets regulator had earlier asked all the existing individual unite holders holding mutual fund units either solely or jointly to provide nomination by March 31, failing which the folios would be frozen for debits.

"Overall, I do not see this as a big dampener for the entire debt category. Mutual funds provide liquidity, which is not available otherwise," said Devang Shah, co-head, fixed income at Axis Mutual Fund.

The market may have been volatile and moved sideways over the last one year or so, but some SIP investments still made money for investors. Here are five equity mutual fund schemes that offered an impressive return to investors in the last one year.

Many investors are considering investing in debt schemes to claim long term capital gains tax. Is it a wise move? Where should you invest?

Nilesh Shah of Kotak AMC states that investments made before 31st March 2023 will continue to get the benefits of long-term capital gains and indexation. However, investors in the upper tax bracket will have to pay higher taxes. Shah believes that the AMC industry will have to focus more on financial education, as investors must be smart in understanding how they park their money. There are also many other potential options in the mutual fund industry, such as short-term bond funds, floating rate funds, and guilt funds.

"The withdrawal of indexation of debt fund gains can be seen more as a concerted attempt to move away from tax arbitrage and create a level playing field. Hopefully, tax rates will also be reduced over time to adjust for inflation," Bank of Baroda chief economist Madan Sabnavis said.

At least three asset management companies (AMCs) have together opened 16 international equity mutual fund programmes for lump-sum investments up to the amounts legally permissible. The Finance Bill amendments, applicable from the next financial year beginning April 1, will remove indexation benefits for debt-oriented savings plans.

"Demand for above three-year corporate bonds would be impacted, and we could see some steepening of the curve right from one-year to five-year point, and spreads with government bond yields could see 10 basis points of widening" said Raju Sharma, head fixed income at IDBI Mutual fund.

Ever since the news came out, many investors were asking around whether there are any ways to avoid the extra tax. Sure, experts never fail such investors. They have been offering many quick-fix solutions.

The deadline for all the existing mutual fund folios, including jointly-held ones, is on March 31. Failure to do so will result in the folios frozen for debits.

From April 1, capital gains arising from investments in debt mutual fund schemes will be added to taxable income and taxed in line with the income tax slab rate. The government made this unexpected change as part of amendments in the Finance Bill last week.

We examine the key fundamentals of the fund, its portfolio and performance to help you make an informed investment decision.

MNC funds invest in a diversified portfolio of multinational corporations, typically across different sectors, such as technology, healthcare, consumer goods and energy.

There are various points to remember before the financial year ends, Here is a list of different areas one needs to check.

"Fixed deposits will be at par with some debt schemes once the tax advantage is gone from a retail investor's perspective," said Ashish Shankar, MD and CEO, Motilal Oswal Private Wealth. "For HNIs and family offices, direct debt and structured debt will become more attractive."

I also believe that the way the mutual funds have been playing the development role on the bond market, which I think is one of the most needed for the country as a whole, in addition to the equity market.

Many anxious investors are calling their advisors to talk about the tax treatment of their debt mutual fund investments. Advisors have been telling investors that all investments made before March 31,2023 will continue to enjoy LTCG and Indexation benefits.

Indexation helps investors to bring down taxes as it calculates the taxes after accounting for inflation. In a high inflation environment, indexation brings down the taxes significantly.

The Securities and Exchange Board of India, in its circular dated May 8, 2017, allowed the use of e-wallets for investment in mutual funds within the umbrella limit of Rs 50,000 for investments by investors, especially the young generation -- to purchase these instruments through both e-wallet and/or cash per mutual fund per financial year.

Quant Mutual Fund has launched a Dynamic Asset Allocation Fund that provides 100% flexibility in shifting between debt and equity. The company aims to target a new investor audience, such as people who invest in FDs but are reluctant to take risks. They believe the new fund can generate extra alpha over FD returns and offer a similar low-volatility product with better taxation. The fund can be used as a debt tax savings product, while Sebi also allows exiting 100% from equity or participating in 100% debt. The fund aims to generate alpha opportunistically when extreme or special situations arise.

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ETMutualFunds looked at the ELSS category to see whether the schemes in it managed to beat their benchmarks over the 10-year period. There were 27 schemes in the ELSS category that have completed 10 years of existence.

By investing in a fund of funds, which offers asset diversification, investors may also benefit from lower risks as it follows a passive investment strategy.

Deals beyond a certain value require approval from the regulator, as it keeps a tab on unfair business practices in the market place.

The move set the U.S. central bank's benchmark overnight interest rate in the 4.75%-5.00% range, with updated projections showing 10 of 18 Fed policymakers still expect rates to rise another quarter of a percentage point by the end of this year, the same endpoint seen in the December projections.

The small cap category has faced a lot of volatility in the interim. The category delivered around 2.19% return in the last one year horizon.

Midcaps and smallcaps tend to feel the pinch more than largecaps during macroeconomic advents. This is despite valuation in the smaller caps also correcting. Some profit booking in midcap and smallcap stocks could occur in the nervous market but one should start nibbling back into increasing equity allocation to domestic equities, especially largecaps. Kotak AMC's CIO-Equity, Harsha Upadhyaya, believes the valuation risk remains minimal in largecaps, making them attractive to investors for long-term investments.

Aditya Birla Sun Life AMC CEO A Balasubramanian says the firm’s exposure to the Adani Group has been paid on time or earlier than the due date. SIP cancellations might occur, however, the net number should remain positive moving forward. The upcoming election should see a positive outcome for the Indian market. Stocks in the consumption segment would be the least volatile with no earning negative surprises.

According to regulatory guidelines, investors should have a nominee for all their mutual fund folios, or inform the fund house they do not wish to have one by March 31. Otherwise, their folios will be frozen for debits.

"Concerns on growth and financial stability point to easier than expected monetary conditions. If this contagion in the global banking system continues, monetary policy will continue to be easy, making it a good time to allocate some money to long duration bonds with a 5-10 year maturity." says Sandeep Bagla, CEO, Trust Mutual Fund.

As per Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI) data as of January 2023, individual mutual fund investors have 80% of their total mutual fund allocation towards equity schemes, and only 14% of the allocation is towards debt-oriented schemes.

Silver ETFs also have an advantage over SIlver futures which are also traded on the exchanges. The former is traded on exchanges in the form of stocks, Solanki said. Trading in silver futures and for that matter any derivative is complicated while ETFs are much simpler to understand, he added.

Around nine fixed maturity plans (FMPs), five gilt funds, two ETFs and two fund of funds (FoF), and one ELSS and index fund scheme are open for subscription in the market.

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For some people investment is an activity where there is a lot of action all the time. They strongly believe that to get returns one needs to actively manage their portfolio and churn appropriately, says Suresh Sadagopan.

The NSE Nifty fell 111.65 points or 0.65% to close at 16,988.40. The BSE Sensex declined 360.95 points or 0.62% to end at 57,628.95. "It's the fear factor that the crisis in the developed market financial system will not end soon which is dragging down the market at the moment," said Siddarth Bhamre, head, research, Religare Broking.

Puneet Pal, head - fixed income, PGIM India Mutual Fund, said he expected the US Fed to hike rates by 25 bps next week, but he pointed out the crucial aspect will be the future guidance.

Is it the right time to invest in equity mutual funds? Why mutual fund managers/experts believe that it is great time or opportunity to invest in equity mutual funds?

The goals cannot be vague, such as ‘I will buy a house when I have enough money’. Goals should be ‘SMART’: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound.

This type of fund has huge interest rate risk as any change in the interest rate will impact the price of the bonds, which will impact fund returns.

Investing consistently is more than important than timing the markets.