GOLD FUND:

They invest the corpus in securities issued by the government. These funds have a zero default risk, but are subject to interest rate risk. So it might be possible to lose money on the debt for a while 'Net Assets Value’ (NAV) as well. But these systems are safer because they invest in the documents supporting the government.

Fixed Income Funds:

Invest a significant portion of the various debt instruments such as bonds, corporate and government securities.

MONTHLY INCOME PLANS (MIP):

They invest most of their bodies in debt instruments and the minimum stock. They get the benefits of equity and debt market. These regimes ranks slightly above the risk-return matrix. They try to give you a monthly income as dividends, which of course is not guaranteed. These funds are intended for investors who have a large corpus in the first place and want to generate a monthly income for themselves with a low to moderate risk.

Short-term plans (STEP):

These funds are intended for those who have an investment horizon of three to six months. These funds invest primarily in short-term securities that the certificate of deposit (CDs) and commercial papers (CP). Part of the corpus is also invested in enterprises.

LIQUID FUNDS:

Also known as money market instruments. They provide easy liquidity and preservation of capital. These schemes invest in short-term instruments such as Treasury bills, the interbank call money, the CPS and CDs and is designed for an investment horizon of one day to three months.

Source: [business-standard]