Wide varieties of investment avenues are now available in India. An investor can himself select the best avenue after studying the merits and demerits of different avenues. Even financial advertising, newspaper supplements on financial matters and investment journals offer guidance to investors in the selection of suitable investment avenues. The following investment avenues are popular and used extensively in India:
(1) Investment in shares, debentures of bonds of different types issued by companies, corporations and public sector organisations.
(2) Postal Savings Schemes.
(3) PF, PPF and other tax sheltered savings schemes such as National Savings Schemes, National Savings Certificates and Tax Saving Schemes of LIC, ICICI, Infrastructure bonds and so on.
(4) Investment in investment intermediaries such as UTI and mutual funds run by LIC, banks and HDFC, Reliance, Tata etc.
(5) Deposits in companies (public deposits) or deposits in public sector organisations and banks.
(6) Life insurance investment i.e., investment in different life policies such as whole life policy, endowment policy and so on.
(7) Investment in gold, silver, precious metals and antiques.
(8) Investment in real estates.
(9) Investment in gilt-edged securities and securities of government and semi-government organisations (e.g. Relief bonds, bonds of port trusts, treasury bills, etc).
It may be noted that there are some avenues / investment schemes where tax benefits are available. Such schemes are called tax savings schemes of investment.
57 Comments