Where should I invest Rs 1 lakh for two years?

I am a 33-year-old married person. My aim is to create wealth. I have an investment horizon of seven to 10 years. Currently, I am investing Rs 3,000 in NPS and Rs 4,000 in monthly SIPs. I have Rs 3 lakh in FDs and other fixed income instruments. I want to increase my SIP to Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 (increase of Rs 1,000-2000). Is my mutual fund portfolio right? Or should I make any changes? Where should I invest Rs 1,000-2,000 via SIPs?

These are my investments:

NPS: Rs 3,000
Axis Dynamic fund (Stopped): Rs 1,000
Baroda Pioneer Credit Opportunities Fund - Direct (Bonus): Rs 500
DSP BlackRock Tax Saver Fund - Direct (G): Rs 500
L&T Tax Advantage Fund - Direct (G): Rs 500
Mirae Asset Emerging Bluechip Fund - Direct (G); Rs 1,000
ICICI Prudential Balanced Fund - Direct (G): Rs 1,500
Motilal Oswal MultiCap 35 Fund - Direct (Dividend): Rs 1,000

Also, where should I invest Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh for a short term of one to two years?

-- Alok Samal

Chokkalingam Palaniappan, Director, Prakala Wealth Management, responds:

You have too many mutual fund schemes in your portfolio. First, decide how much you need for Section 80C (tax saving) investments. If you do not need tax-saving investments, you need not invest in those mutual fund schemes. You may continue with your NPS investments. And make sure that you have maximum equity exposure in your NPS investment since you are young.

You have dividend and bonus options in your investments. If you are having them for any specific reason, then it is okay. Otherwise, switch to the growth option.


Assuming that you want to invest Rs 6,000 per month and you can remain invested for a long term (more than 10 years), you may stop all your existing SIPs and invest in the following two mutual fund schemes:

Axis Focused 25 Fund – Rs 3,000
HDFC Small Cap Fund – Rs 3,000

The mutual fund schemes in your current portfolio are decent schemes and you may hold on to them for now and review after one year.

If you are looking to invest for two years for a higher yield with a lower credit quality, you may invest in Franklin India Low Duration Fund. If you want to invest in a fund with higher credit quality, you may invest in Invesco India Money Market Fund.