Jeevan Astha v/s Tax Saver FD v/s NSC.

Life Insurance Corporation of India ’s “Jeevan Astha” which is available only for 45 would serve as a better alternative for Tax saver Fixed Deposit and NSC as policy comes with a minimum term of 5 years.Let us look at the basic features of the three investment instrument.

FD === Min Term-5 Years,Interst-9%,Interest Is Taxable, Insurance-No, Min. Amount- Rs 10 And Premature withdrawal is Not Allowed
NSE === Min Term-6 Years,Interst-8 %,Interest Is Taxable, Insurance-No, Min. Amount- Rs 500 And Premature withdrawal is Not Allowed
Jeevan Astha === Min Term-5 Years,Interst-9%,Interest Is Not Taxable, Insurance-YES, Min. Amount- Rs 25,000 And Premature withdrawal is Allowed

“Jeevan Astha” clearly scores over Tax saver Fixed Deposit (Tax saver FD) as well as National Saving certificate(NSC).The main highlight in “Jeevan Astha” is interest earned is tax free which is not in the case of Tax Saver FD and NSC.Because of this effective return on the investment for NSC and Tax saver FD is much less then 9% and 8% respectively compared to what “Jeevan Astha” provides.Apart from this there is insurance cover as well as premature withdrawal facility.Two down side of “Jeevan Astha” is minimum amount is Rs. 25,000 so people who wish to invest smaller amount may not be able to enter in to this scheme. The second down side is it is available only for maximum of 45 days