Investment experts always recommend to start investing early in life no matter what the amount is – small or large. The golden rule of investing remains the same. That is – invest small/large but do it regularly for a long term.

Not everyone has financial capacity to invest large sum of money. So in this article, we’ll consider a small amount of Rs. 3000 invested every month and the expected returns from various investment products available in India.

There are two types of investors:

• Zero or no risk takers
• High/moderate risk takers

We’ll consider each of the above type and calculate estimated returns in various investment products:

Zero Risk Investments:

There are many instruments falling into this category which also offer decent returns.

• Public Provident Fund (PPF): Rs. 3000 monthly investment in PPF for the standard period of 15 years will fetch return income of around Rs. 10, 80,000 (Rs. 10 Lakh, 80 Thousand). Here we have assumed average interest rate of 8.1%.
• Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana: This scheme is especially for the girl child. A yearly investment of Rs. 36, 000 per annum (i.e. Rs. 3000 per month) for the tenure of mandatory 14 years, will fetch a return of Rs. 16, 61,207 (Over 16 Lakh) after 21 years @ interest rate of 8.2%. Read more on SSA.
• Fixed Deposit: Investing in bank fixed deposit offers safety although the returns are low compared to other zero risk investment instruments. If you invest Rs. 3000 per month for a period of 1 year; then the return amount would be Rs. 38, 700.
• National Pension System (NPS): This is another guaranteed return investment product offering interest of around 8%. If three thousand is invested for 25 years i.e. Rs. 9, 00,000; then the interest earned on the investment would be Rs. 19, 47, 558. Subscriber would receive monthly pension of Rs. 6, 700 after reaching the age of 60 years.
• National Savings Certificate: If you invest Rs. 36, 000 lump sum for the lock-in period of 5 year, then the returns would be Rs. 53, 033. The current interest rate is 7.9%.

With above mentioned risk free products, the returns are guaranteed. And your money is completely safe.

High/Moderate Risk, High Returns:

Mutual funds: A monthly regular SIP of Rs. 3000 after a period of 5 years, will earn return amount of Rs. 2, 69,045. Here the average return considered is 12%. If we assume return of 15%; then the maturity value would be Rs. 8, 35,971 after a period of 10 years.

Here are the top rated mutual funds of 2017 with the returns they’ve given in the last 1 year:

All of the above mentioned funds have been ranked No. 1 by CRISIL.

ELSS: The most favorite tax saving instrument preferred especially by salaried individuals, of course, who are ready to take a risk, is equity linked savings scheme. With a lock-in period of just 3 years, the returns are spectacular. So Rs. 36, 000 invested for a period of 3 year in Reliance Tax Saver (ELSS) Fund (G) i.e. investment of Rs. 1, 08, 000; then the expected returns after 3 year would be Rs. 1, 59, 103. Assuming 21% average annualized returns. There are many high return ELSS funds in the market.

Direct equity: Either you go SIP way or invest directly in equity either yourself or through the advice of the broker. Equities have given highest return, provided you regularly invested for a long term horizon.

Take example of State Bank of India. If you had bought SBI stock worth Rs. 36, 000 (assuming Rs. 3000 invested in phases) in May-2016 when the stock price was hovering at around Rs. 165; then the return in April-2107 would would be around Rs. 61, 000. Which is the nearly 75% gain. The current stock price in April-2017 is Rs. 286. So if you spread portfolio in the best expert recommended stocks or any other relevant sources, then in the long run the returns is most likely to beat other options. But remember that, stock market investments are highly risky, as market conditions keep on changing.

So here’s the summary showing the returns you can expect after investing Rs. 3000 every month for the mandatory tenure or for long term in the above listed products.

There are many investment options in India, however the ones mentioned in this article are most preferred and widely recommended by the experts. Real estate is one such investment which in comparison to any investment instrument offers, the highest return. However investing in real estate requires lot of money. So this is the reason, it is not covered in this article.