Mahindra Finance Fixed Deposit
After a brief hiatus Mahindra Finance again started accepting Fixed Deposits from public. This Mahindra Finance Fixed Deposit comes up with the CRISIL Rating of FAA which means that it comes with a high degree of safety. They have both cumulative and non-cumulative scheme for investing our funds with and can choose from various periods and thus interest rates according to our needs. The interest rate for the fixed deposit varies according to whether it is cumulative or non-cumulative and different period, obviously.
CUMULATIVE SCHEME:
Under the cumulative scheme, the minimum amount to invest is Rs. 10,000 and then in multiples of Rs. 1000. Under the cumulative scheme in Mahindra Finance FD, the minimum period in which you can invest is 12 months and the maximum is 60 months. The interest rate for 12 months is 8% p.a. while for 18 months it is 8.25%, 24 months 8.50%, 36 months and above months 9% p.a.
Effective Yield:
But the effective yield for the cumulative scheme will vary according to the period of investment due to the fact that the interest component is being reinvested again, except for the 12 months period. Thus the effective yield per annum for the 18 months would be 8.48% p.a., while for the 24 months it would be 8.86% p.a., 36 months 9.83%, 48 months 10.29%, and while for 60 months the effective yield is exactly 10.77% per annum and thus assuring higher returns if you opt for the cumulative scheme.
Amount Payable:
For example if you are investing Rs. 10,000 under the cumulative scheme of the Mahindra Finance Fixed Deposit for various periods and your yield accordingly would be Rs. 10,800, Rs. 11,272, Rs. 11,772, Rs. 12,950, Rs. 14,116, Rs. 15,386 for 12, 18, 24, 36. 48 and 60 months respectively.
NON-CUMULATIVE SCHEME:
It is a scheme in Mahindra Finance FD where you will start withdrawing the interest component rather than accumulating it along with the invested amount and getting it at the end. Here you can ask for the interest to be paid either half yearly or quarterly. This year Mahindra Finance has introduced the quarterly interest payment option while it was not available previously. The minimum amount for investment under non-cumulative scheme for half yearly interest is Rs. 25,000 while for the quarterly option the minimum investment is Rs. 50,000.
Interest Rates (Non-Cumulative):
The interest rate for Mahindra FD with the half yearly plan is 7.75% p.a. for 12 months, 8.25% for 24 months, while it is 8.75% for 36, 48 and 60 months. The interest will be paid on March 31st and September 30th of every year via ECS/NEFT/NECS. For the quarterly interest payment option it is 7.65% per annum for 12 months, 8.15% for 24 months, and 8.65% p.a. for 36, 48 and 60 months.
Additional Benefits:
While for all the above investment schemes with Mahindra Finance Fixed Deposit, the senior citizens, share holders, and/or employees will get an additional rate of interest of 0.25% per annum. The interest will paid directly to your bank on June 30, September 30, December 31, and March 31 via NECS/ECS/NEFT.
Procedure to Invest:
You can download the Fixed Deposit application directly at the Mahindra Finance website and fill it and directly mail it to them or can contact your financial advisor for the same. You should draw the cheque or draft in favour of MMFSL – Fixed Deposit. You can even renew your existing FD with Mahindra Finance at the existing interest rates by sending back the deposit receipts along with fresh application before the maturity of the Fixed Deposit that you hold with Mahindra Finance. Partial withdrawal of the FD is allowed after 3 months but with nil to lesser interest rates accordingly.
Conclusion:
If you are a fan of fixed deposits and fond of fixed income rather than trying out other better but risky choices like Mutual Funds, stocks, etc., then this private fixed deposit can be a better choice considering you are getting far better interest rates. But remember that the risks associated with such private fixed deposits are higher when compared with the bank FDs. So, think twice and invest.
Canara Robeco Large Cap+ Fund
This, Canara Robeco Large Cap+ Fund, is the latest NFO from the house of Canara Robeco Mutual Fund (CRMF). This NFO is open till July 27, 2010. It is an open ended equity scheme which is powered by Robeco Quant Model. This is yet another NFO within the span of one to two months from Canara Robeco MF after their last one, Canara Robeco IndiGo Fund.
This open-ended equity scheme is, as the name suggests, going to invest primarily only on the large cap companies which large market capitalization. The plus sign in the Large Cap+ fund, indicates that their asset allocation is going to be mostly on large cap funds rather than being misunderstood as being the returns of the fund, as per their term document. They are also going to be very selective in choosing the large caps by only investing in the finest large caps among all in the existing market.
Investment Objective: Canara Robeco Large Cap Plus helps us in generating income by capital appreciation by mostly investing in large cap companies in terms of market capitalization. They are targeting in investing in any of the companies in the top 150 companies in the market. They are also going to adopt a REM Quant Model (Robeco Emerging Markets Quantitative model) in terms of investment by their unique model in terms of investment process.
Asset Allocation: Large cap equities and equity related instruments would consist of 65% to 100% while the money and domestic debt market would consist of 0-35%.
Investment Options: Growth as well ass dividend (both payout and reinvestment options).
Benchmark Index: BSE 100.
Load Structure: No entry load during NFO or even when it reopens for public offers after nearly one month of closure of NFO.
Minimum Amount: For investment in Canara Robeco Large Cap Fund during NFO is Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter. Subsequent purchases with minimum amount of Rs. 1000 and in multiples of Re. 1 thereafter.
Overall, there is not much to write about this Large Cap+ Fund from Canara Robeco as it is going to follow the same or similar track to that of all major large cap funds in India. But the only difference being the REM Quant Model approach, which from their words sounds distinct and unique. But we will need to see how well it transforms in terms of returns and that can only be analyzed after some time that they open up for public after their initial NFO period. But my personal suggestion would be to wait and watch for the time being.
Download the New Rupee Symbol Font
We all know that India has a new Currency Symbol for Rupee. But it will take quite some time to get the same on your keyboards for obvious reasons. But well before that you can start typing the New Rupee Symbol in your regular word processors like MS Word, etc. For that you will need to download Rupee Symbol Font in your PC. This new Rupees Font Symbol was developed first by an Indian engineering company named Foradian Technologies.
It is named as Rupee Foradian. You can download this new font from here. After downloading it, just cut/copy it and paste it in your Windows Fonts folder, i.e., at C:\WINDOWS\Fonts or just open your Control Panel where you will find the fonts folder and just paste this new font there. That’s it. Now you can choose this new font your MS Word or word processors just by selecting that font and when you type the “grave accent” symbol key on your keyboard (the key which is just above the tab button on your keyboard and the one which is left of the key “1″. Or alternatively you can just type this key and select it and choose the Rupee Foradian font. This can be used as long as we have our own key for typing it straight out from the keyboard. Although it looks somewhat odd to see that symbol instead of the regular Rs. there, but it would take quite a lot of time to get used to it and becomes the regular replacement for Rs.
This new font Rupee Foradian can be used as a regular font to type out your alphabets and numbers. Hence if you happen to use the new Indian Currency symbol often in your work, then you can just select this new font and start using it just like a regular font and whenever you need to type out the new Rupee Symbol just follow the above instruction, that’s all.
This new Re Symbol font can be downloaded from here.
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ICICI Prudential Gold Exchange Traded Fund
After the HDFC Gold ETF, now is the time for ICICI Prudential Gold ETF or Exchange Traded Fund. It is just like any other Gold ETFs that are available in India but from the house of ICICI Prudential that’s all. But also there may be some slight difference like the expense ratio, entry and exit rates, etc. But otherwise with ICICI Prudential Gold ETF you can own gold without the hassles of keeping the physical gold in your home instead in a much safer option of your demat account.
This ICICI Prudential Gold Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) is an open-ended exchanged traded fund. It follows the international gold price for 24 carat gold and thus the NAV is truly and entirely dependant on the gold price every day. The main advantages of owning gold via Gold ETF is that you get to own only pure gold, convenience of not carrying physical gold and hence safety part is assured and finally as always gold has always proven to be a great opportunity for wealth creation and can prove as a great option as a hedge against the inflation.
Benefits of ICICI Gold ETF:
- Gold power is unlocked in a more liquid and easy to transact option unlike the jewellery and gold coins or bars, etc.
- Costwise the cheapest when compared to physical gold in terms of storing, buying, and insuring the same.
- Even can be brought for smaller denomination of even 1 gram of gold (1 unit).
- Ease of buying during ICICI Prudential Gold ETF during NFO just by filling a form otherwise via the exchange.
- Transparency is assured as the NAV is declared daily and portfolio holding is disclosed monthly.
- 99.50% purity is assured on your gold.
Fund Manager: Mr. Chaitanya Pande
NFO Period: June 30, 2010 to July 29, 2010
Objective: To provide an option of buying and selling gold at the domestic gold price that is derived from LBMA AM.
Loads During NFO: No entry or exit load.
Minimum Amount: During NFO the minimum amount to invest is Rs. 5000 and in multiples of Re. 1. After that the units can be brought and sold even 1 unit either on the Bombay Stock Exchange or National Stock Exchange and hence liquidity and profit is maintained.
Benchmark: Gold price derived from LBMA (London Bullion Market Association) AM price fixing.
Overall rather than buying gold in physical format like gold bar or gold coins, gold ETFs have been proving to be an excellent option due to the sheer convenience and liquidity and safety that it offers and hence it is very much advisable to go for Gold ETFs but pick and choose the best asset management company among them considering the various factors like expense ratio, etc. Only inconvenience being that you cannot invest in gold ETFs via SIP option in Mutual Funds. But you can buy in small units whenever you want and add it to your portfolio.
Opinion: Coming back to ICICI Prudential Gold ETF, during NFO it is easier to buy the same if you don’t have any online trading account, just by filling in the form and then just open a demat account and transact later. But considering the fluctuation in gold price think twice before investing right now. But as always if you are looking for long term goals, then this is an excellent opportunity to invest in gold ETF, and this ICICI Gold ETF is very much recommended for the same.
Shriram Unnati Fixed Deposits July-August 2010
After the Shriram NCD, now they have come up with Shriram Unnati fixed deposits. This fixed deposit scheme from Shriram Transport Finance Company is open from July 1, 2010 to August 31, 2010. This FD scheme from Shriram is rated as FAA+/stable by CRISIL and MAA+/stable by ICRA rating companies. Hence can be said to be almost safe to invest in them and the returns are secured as it is a profit making company which has been paying dividends to its existing investors in the company. Shriram Commercial Vehicle finance or Shriram Transport is India’s largest asset financing NDFC with over Rs. 30,000 crores of assets under its management.
Investment: The minimum investment under this new Fixed deposit scheme which opened to public on July 1, 2010 is Rs. 25,000 and in multiples of Rs. 1000 thereafter. The maximum investment is Rs. 10 crores. It will be open to public for investments till August 31, 2010.
Scheme Options: Quarterly, half yearly, annual as well as cumulative. The minimum investment period is 1 year while the maximum is 5 years for this existing Shriram FD.
Interest Rate: For 1 year period the rate of interest for the Shriram Unnati Fixed Deposit scheme is 8.75% p.a. For two years it is 9.5%, similarly the interest rate for 3, 4 and 5 years investment is 10% p.a. The investment interest rates vary for the quarterly and half yearly schemes. While the cumulative interest or effective yield for 1 year investment remains the same at 8.75% but for the 2 years is 9.95% and for 3 years it is 11.03%, 4 years it would be 11.6% and finally for the 5 years investment it is 12.21%. Remember this is not an assured yield but only effective yield especially on the cumulative schemes since the interest rate for each year is kind of re-invested (since you are getting the interest paid out) in your existing amount and hence the effective yield changes for the cumulative investment plans.
If you are looking for a fixed return yield but still relatively safer and much higher return than that of the bank deposits, the Shriram Fixed Deposits can be a safe bet for you. But as in case of any investment made on private fixed deposits, this scheme too comes with its own risk factors as such schemes are not governed or backed by Reserve Bank of India or any Government of India institutions. Hence invest in this Shriram Unnati Fixed Deposits at your discretion knowing all the risks and benefits of the same.
If you want to invest you can call 1800-200-0011 for the same.