Parents look for investment options with higher returns for their daughters' education and marriage. At present, there are many investment options for the future of daughters. If you want to invest without risk, then you can invest in the Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana run by the government. If you can take risk then you can invest in Mutual Fund.
The Government of India offers 8.2 per cent interest in Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana. You can invest a minimum of Rs 250 and a maximum of Rs 1.5 lakh per annum in this. This scheme matures in 21 years. At the same time, investment in the scheme has to be made for 15 years. If the investor fails invest every financial year then the SSY account gets frozen. There is no risk in Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana and guaranteed returns are available, due to which it is a better scheme for parents.
If you want to get higher returns then you can invest in mutual funds. However, there is risk in this also. Mutual funds are linked to the share market. If you want, you can invest in SIP (Systematic Investment Plan). You can create a huge fund by depositing a fixed amount every month in SIP.
To know which of these two options will be more profitable, we will first have to understand the calculations of these two options.
If you invest Rs 5,000 every month in Sukanya Yojana, you will invest a total of Rs 60,000 in one year and Rs 9,00,000 in 15 years. There is no need to invest in this scheme after 15 years.
When the scheme matures i.e. after 21 years, you will get interest of Rs 18,71,031 at the interest rate of 8.2 per cent. This means that you will get a total of Rs 27,71,031.
If you invest Rs 5000 every month in SIP continuously for 15 years, then you will invest a total of Rs 9 lakh. You may get an average return of 12 per cent on SIP. At 12 per cent, you can get Rs 16,22,880 as interest after 15 years.
If you withdraw money from SIP within 15 years, you will get a total of Rs 25,22,880. This return is almost same as the return of SSY Yojana.
Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana comes under EEE category. This means that you can avail tax benefits in this. In this you will not have to pay any kind of tax. Tax benefits cannot be availed in SIP. SSY provides guaranteed returns without any risk. Whereas SIP is linked to the market, due to which you cannot calculate how much return you will get in it in the end. Experts suggest that one should invest in mutual funds for a long time, because it reduces the risk.
To avail the benefits of Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana, your daughter's age should be less than 10 years. If the age is more than 10 years then you cannot avail the benefit of this scheme. There is no such age limit in SIP. You can start SIP anytime. SIP is flexible, you can start it anytime.
