Among the hybrid MF categories, equity savings funds have been able to contain downside well in the recent market turmoil. Equity savings funds allocate their corpus to hedged and unhedged equities, and debt assets. While equity adds spunk to returns, debt and arbitrage investments offer stability. Since at least 65 per cent of their corpus is in hedged and unhedged equity, these schemes are treated as equity funds for tax purposes.
Edelweiss Equity Savings Fund is a consistent performer --a chart topper currently. Its equity portion is managed with a multi-cap strategy, while investments in debt are mainly in high-quality debt papers with a duration of 1-3 years. Conservative investors with a time horizon of three or more years can consider this fund.