MUMBAI: Inspite of the economic downturn and pessimism in the market, Birla Sun Life MIP II Savings 5 Plan has yielded investors better post-tax
returns than bank FDs and post-office deposit schemes.

Birla Sun Life Mutual Funds open-ended monthly income plan (MIP) II-Savings 5 plan has performed well with the fund generating a CAGR return of 12.5 per cent over a 3-year period against the benchmark Crisil MIP Blended Index returns of 8.4 per cent as on July 31.

An investor who has invested Rs 1-lakh in the scheme since its inception in May 2004, would have received Rs 540 as average monthly income in the form of dividends as against Rs 440 from a bank FD and post-office monthly income scheme till July 31, 2009, Birla Sun Life's CEO, A Balasubramanian told reporters here.

During the same period while the Rs 1-lakh invested initially would not have appreciated in conventional saving options, it would have grown to Rs 1.12-lakh in this fund. More importantly, the income from the conventional investment options are taxable but income from BSL MIP II Savings 5 is not taxable.

Post-tax monthly income for FD and PO MIS is calculated on a rate of interest of 8 per cent per annum and 7.25 per cent per annum, respectively.