Check FMP portfolios. Don't get carried away by tax breaks alone

Last week, I wrote in defence of good old fixed deposits (FDs) with safe large nationalised banks. A couple of days later, this message popped up in my mailbox. “Did you know tax on interest earned on fixed deposits can be as high as 33.99%? That’s why Fidelity’s Fixed Maturity Plan (FMP) makes sense. The fund will aim to...

Investors’ funds cannot be confiscated without attempting to find them

Ever since the Ministry of Corporate Affairs transferred nearly Rs400 crore of unclaimed dividends from companies to the Investor Education & Protection Fund (IEPF), the government as well as financial regulators have been wanting to seize other pools of unclaimed money. Under its former chairman, M Damodaran, the...

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission deals a blow on behalf of consumers

As defaults mount, consumers reeling under the burden of high interest rates on credit card balances have been asking a simple question, “Is the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) required to issue any circular or guidelines prohibiting banks and finance companies from charging interest above a cut-off point?” A...