Treat them differently. FD interest is added to your income and taxed at your slab rate every year as it accrues, and the bank deducts TDS along the way, so a headline rate is always higher than what you actually keep. Debt mutual funds work differently: you are taxed only when you redeem, on the gains, not year by year. After a 2023 change, gains on many debt funds are taxed at your slab rate regardless of how long you held, which removed the old long term advantage, though the exact treatment depends on the fund and when you invested. The practical point for a founder is to compare after tax returns, not sticker rates, especially since you may be in a high slab in a good year and a low one in a lean year. Tax rules here change often, so confirm the current position with a CA before you plan around it.
A curated summary to orient you, not advice. The resources below are the real value.
3 hand-picked resources, 3 India-specific, 3 link-checked.
Why we picked it What debt funds are, the types, the risks, and their recently changed tax treatment in India, before you park money in one.
From ClearTax by ClearTax
Open cleartax.in →Why we picked it A practical India-first reference for keeping personal and company finances (and their tax) cleanly separate.
From ClearTax by ClearTax
Open cleartax.in →Why we picked it The mutual fund industry body investor corner: fund basics, NAVs, and how SIPs work, straight from the source.
From AMFI by AMFI
Open amfiindia.com →
