Excuse Equity

I have been asked by a person who does not want to invest in any kind of  equity related products to do a post on option they have in investing

So, here I go

PPF : I have done umpteen articles on PPF and would consider it to be one of best debt instrument around even doing well as a retirement instrument

Check all my articles on PPF here

Tax Free Bonds : There were about 5 Tax Free Bonds issues last year and there will be more this year too . Please note the interest earned from these bonds are Tax free not the principal invested and these have no lock-in and can be sold on the stock market anytime , which means they can be held only in demat form, hence you would need a Demat account. Most suited for people in 30% tax bracket. 

Check couple of my article on Tax free bonds here and here

Fixed maturity Plans (FMP): these are instruments like FD but offered by mutual Funds and as the name suggest they are for a fixed durations like say 90days,180days,1year ..etc at the end of which you money will be returned back to you with interest earned . The interest earned is tax-free , only draw back is, as per SEBI rule they cannot promise a fixed rate of return .

Read my other articles on FMP here

Sweep Account : These are a type of saving account where any amount higher than say Rs.15,000 would be automatically be converted into a F.D ,though lot of different bank offer these type of account i like the one offered by the nationalised banks

My previous articles on Sweep Account here

R.D: These are ideal for people who are struggling to save or for somebody who would like to save some amount each month in a disciplined manner. One of the advantage is that no Tax will be deducted by the banks on interest earned even though the interest is taxable .

Non convertible Debentures(NCD) : These are mostly FDs offered by companies. It is possible some of the NCD’s may offer as high a rate of return as 10-12% . Investor need to be cautious as they would need to check the trustablility of the company, as in many instances they offer such high rate of return because bank do not lend them any money .

List of current NCD/Bonds on offer here

other possible options you may have are NSC,MIS,Debt Mutual Funds.