If you look at the asset allocation model for retail investors in India, it is clear that Indians are mostly fixed-income investors in nature and convention. This anomaly is clearly an opportunity for mutual fund industry.

In terms of diversity of products, the industry has come a long way. Products of debt mutual funds come with different combinations of liquidity (or tenor), credit quality and volatility of interest rates related to investment needs based on different investment objectives of investors on risk appetite and time horizon.

The bouquet of products includes liquid and ultra short-term funds that invest in money market instruments, securities, fixed maturity plans, invest in securities that match the term regime to lock in yields in force when the funds, income and gilt capital protection oriented schemes, and a variety of hybrid products with different combinations of equity and debt.

The industry needs to invest in the growing awareness among retail investors so they can enjoy a wide range of useful products.

The range of products in space and multiple debt today is designed for retail and institutional investors - ranging from roads, such as gold funds, which generally provide returns in the form of capital appreciation and interest income by investing in government securities of varying maturities that different short-term investments routes, such as PAF designed to lock in profits by buying and holding bonds of same maturity and short-term funds and ultra short term, which are most popular for a short-term use of funds.

At the same time, we have the category of funds known as the monthly rental plans that seek to provide a steady income as dividends. All mutual funds in the categories are not a reliable indicator of other aspects of the reservation of investors can be processed by the awareness of debt as a way of safety, liquidity and yield.

In this reference, I wish to draw the reader's attention to the second half of 2008, which is best known for the collapse of the global financial system. If you find someone to a portion of the debt to income funds generated during this period, you would definitely surprised.

The point that I am attempting to make here is that different asset classes have outperformed at various points of time, and with the ever-changing investment environment, each asset class will have some uniqueness to offer to an investor's portfolio.

This point is especially significant in the current scenario when investors are primarily looking at safety of investment and predictability of returns. They could, therefore, consider debt mutual fund as an investment option. To sum it up, each asset class has its pros and cons and its suitability would be a function of the prevailing market environment as well as investor's specific situation.