Products
Eight ways to put money to work, and who each one is actually for
Zenith Wealth distributes these products, we do not advise on them. Every line below runs on a licensed rail: AMFI for mutual funds, SEBI through our Motilal Oswal partnership for PMS, AIF, bonds and NCDs, and IRDAI for insurance.
The minimums shown are the regulator’s floors, not Zenith’s. Where a product has no statutory minimum, the figure is the market’s usual entry ticket.
Which product suits which problem?
Most of the decision is made by three things: how much you can commit, how long you can leave it alone, and how you would feel if it fell 20% before it rose. The table compares all eight lines on exactly those terms.
| Product | Typical minimum | Lock-in | Liquidity | Who regulates it | Risk character |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mutual Funds | ₹500 SIP | None (ELSS 3 yrs) | Redeem any day, T+1 to T+3 | SEBI · AMFI | Market-linked; depends on category |
| PMS | ₹50,00,000 | None; exit load common | T+3 to T+7 on request | SEBI | Concentrated equity, wide swings |
| AIF | ₹1,00,00,000 | 3–7 years typical | Closed-ended; little to none | SEBI | Specialised strategy, illiquid |
| SIF | ₹10,00,000 | Scheme dependent | Periodic windows, not daily | SEBI | Sits between mutual funds and PMS |
| Bonds | ₹10,000 | Held to maturity, or sold | Secondary market, varies by issue | SEBI · RBI | Issuer credit and interest-rate risk |
| NCDs | ₹10,000 | Till maturity, listed ones tradable | Listed but often thin | SEBI | Issuer credit risk; read the rating |
| Corporate FDs | ₹10,000 | 12–60 months | Premature exit with penalty | RBI · MCA | Unsecured issuer credit risk |
| Insurance | ₹5,000 / year | Policy term | Not an exit route | IRDAI | Protection, not a return product |
Scroll the table sideways on a phone. Minimums for PMS (₹50 lakh) and AIF (₹1 crore) are SEBI-mandated floors; the SIF floor of ₹10 lakh follows the SEBI Specialised Investment Fund framework. Bond, NCD and corporate FD tickets are market convention and move with each issue. Figures as at 1 August 2026; sources: SEBI PMS Regulations 2020, SEBI (AIF) Regulations 2012, and the SEBI SIF framework.
Family 01
Market-linked
Your money buys units or securities whose price moves daily. You accept variability in exchange for a claim on growth. The four lines differ mainly in ticket size, how much the manager can concentrate, and how quickly you can get out.
Family 02
Fixed income
You lend, and the borrower promises a coupon and a repayment date. The question is never the headline rate. It is who is on the other side, whether it is secured, and what happens if you need the money early.
Family 03
Protection
These are not investments and should not be measured as if they were. They buy a defined payout against a defined event, so the only questions that matter are what is covered, what is excluded, and whether the sum insured is enough.
Family 04
Desks
Two situations that do not fit the shelf above: money that has to cross a border, and shares that trade before a listing. Both need paperwork more than product choice, which is why they are handled as desks rather than as lines.
Money
Do I pay Zenith anything?
No. Nothing is charged to you for distribution. Zenith is paid a trail commission by the asset management company, bond issuer or insurer whose product you hold, a share of the expense ratio or issue cost that exists whether or not a distributor is involved.
Trail is paid for as long as you stay invested, which means we are paid to keep a holding suitable rather than to move it.
Questions people actually ask
A mutual fund pools your money with thousands of others and issues units; a PMS holds securities directly in your own demat account under a discretionary manager. The regulatory minimum for PMS is ₹50 lakh against ₹500 for a mutual fund SIP, and PMS portfolios are far more concentrated, so outcomes vary much more between two investors.
Not automatically. A corporate FD is an unsecured deposit with the issuing company; an NCD can be secured against assets and carries a public credit rating. Neither is covered by the ₹5 lakh deposit insurance that applies to bank deposits. Compare the issuer’s rating and the security cover, not the headline coupon.
No. Distribution costs you nothing. Zenith is paid trail commission by the AMC, issuer or insurer out of the product’s existing expense ratio or issue cost, a cost that exists whether or not a distributor is involved. Every rate is published on the commission disclosure page.
A Specialised Investment Fund is a SEBI category that sits between mutual funds and PMS. It uses mutual fund plumbing (a trustee, a custodian, NAV-based units) but permits wider strategies such as long-short exposure. The minimum investment is ₹10 lakh across a fund house’s SIF strategies.
₹500 a month starts a mutual fund SIP, and that is the only line on this page with no meaningful floor. Bonds, NCDs and corporate FDs generally start near ₹10,000 per issue. SIF begins at ₹10 lakh, PMS at ₹50 lakh and AIF at ₹1 crore. Those three floors are set by SEBI, not by Zenith.
Open-ended mutual funds redeem in one to three working days. PMS takes three to seven while positions are sold. Listed bonds and NCDs depend on finding a buyer, which can be slow. Corporate FDs allow premature withdrawal with a rate penalty. AIFs are usually closed-ended, so plan on the full term.
Zenith is an AMFI-registered distributor, not a SEBI-registered investment adviser, so we do not publish scheme names, model portfolios or ranked lists. We can explain categories (large cap, flexi cap, hybrid, debt) and how each behaves. For a shortlist suited to you, speak with the team.
PMS, AIF, bonds in both primary and secondary markets, NCDs, term insurance and health insurance are facilitated through our partner Motilal Oswal Financial Services Ltd (SEBI Reg INZ000158836). Mutual funds run on Zenith’s own AMFI registration, ARN-331900. Motor and miscellaneous insurance run through Policybazaar.
Bring us the goal, not the product name
Tell us the horizon, the amount and what the money is for. We will walk you through the two or three lines above that are worth considering, and the ones that are not.