Mutual funds to secure a monthly income of Rs 10,000 for my mother

I want a monthly income for my 55-year-old mother. Currently, a lumpsum of Rs 9 lakh is invested in the Post Office Monthly Income Scheme. It is giving returns of 7.7% per annum. Its term will end in a month.

I am looking for an option that can give approximately Rs 9,000 to 10,000 per month with the same lumpsum. I have a secure option, provided by recently opened pension plan of the insurance company of my demised father. But it will require us to give up the lumpsum. I don’t want to lose it.

I can take moderate risk with the lumpsum amount.
--Tarun Khatri

Rishabh Parkah, Founder, Money Plant Consultancy, responds:

A monthly income of Rs 9,000 to 10,000 per month from the available corpus of Rs 9 lakh, means you are expecting 13% returns. It is not feasible as any fixed return bearing financial instruments won’t be able to provide more than 7-8% returns. Expecting 13% returns annually from any mutual fund scheme in the short term is Unrealistic.

You have also mentioned that you do not want to invest a lumpsum in one instrument as you do not want to lose the money. It means, investing in an equity fund is also not feasible because market in the short term can throw any surprises. You need to add some other funds to generate the desired returns or take higher risk. In such case, expecting a steady income is not right. If it is the only corpus that your mother has, you need to be very careful while investing the amount.