Types of debt funds based on their maturity period category

 

It is easier to classify debt funds than equity funds. A debt fund investment is like investing in a bond; it is defined by two characteristics, first, its maturity and seconds its credit rating. Maturity is a simple concept that will help you learn how debt funds work. The maturity date of a bond is the date on which the original value of a bond is determined to be fully returned to the investor.

 

Debt funds are classified into the following categories, based on their maturity.

 

Overnight Fund: It invests in overnight securities with a maturity of 1 day.

 

Liquid Fund: Liquid debt funds invest in debt and money market securities with a maturity period of only 91 days.

 

Ultra Short Duration Fund: Ultra short term debt mutual funds invests in debt and money market instruments, and the portfolio's maturity period is between 3 months to 6 months.

 

Low Duration Fund: It invests in debt and money market instruments and the portfolio period is between 6 months to 12 months. It is also called short duration debt funds.

 

Money Market Fund: It invests in money market instruments with maturities up to 1 year.

 

Short Term Fund: It is invested in debt and money market instruments, and the maturity period of the portfolio is between 1 year to 3 years.

 

Medium Duration Fund: It invests in debt and money market instruments, and has a portfolio maturity period of 3 years to 4 years.

 

Medium to Long Duration Fund: It invests in debt and money market instruments, and the portfolio's maturity a period is between 4 to 7 years.

 

Long Duration Fund: It invests in debt and money market instruments, and the portfolio has a maturity period of over 7 years.

 

Dynamic Fund: It is invested over a period of time.

 

Apart from this maturity-based classification, there are some other types of debt funds.

 

Gilt Fund: Gilt funds invest in 80% of the total assets in government securities. These securities, also known as gilts, are bonds issued by the Government of India. Unlike bonds issued by companies, the government is unlikely to default on its debt obligation so gilt fund risk is very low. It is also called bond based mutual funds.

 

10-Year Continuous Term Gilt Fund

 

Corporate Bond Mutual Funds: In this, at least 80% is invested in corporate bonds.

 

Credit Risk Fund: In this, a minimum of 65% is invested in corporate bonds.

 

Banking and PSU funds: It consists of minimum 80% investment in debt instruments of banks, public sector undertakings and financial institutions.

 

Floating rate bond funds: In this floater fund, a minimum 65% of the total assets are invested in floating rate instruments.

Infrastructure Debt Fund (IDF)

 

The IDF is an emerging investment instrument, which can be created as a mutual fund or NBFC to invest in the infrastructure sector. In the infrastructure debt format is regulated by the IDF SEBI (Mutual Funds) Regulations, 1996, investors invest in rupee-denominated units of an infrastructure debt scheme. The Asset Management Company (AMC) of infrastructure debt manages the funds of various IDF schemes. It provides long-term investment opportunities by infrastructure debt, pension funds, insurance cos, sovereign wealth funds and other investors.