Intelligent investments can make anyone’s wealth to grow substantially. Although the definition of good wealth is very broad, here, we will define it as anyone who starts investing little money and generates enormous wealth after certain years i.e. the returns are far better than the invested amount.

For individuals who earn less and are sole breadwinner of the family, there is a very limited money to invest as they have to meet demand of various things such as day to day expenses for grocery, food, travelling etc. However investment does not mean an individual should have large amount of money. There are many products for low income earners (or any category of individual) to invest in India requiring less but continuous investment with decent return and that too at an absolutely zero risk.

Broadly we will classify these into two categories:

1. Guaranteed returns and zero risk
2. High returns and high risk

Considering conservative nature of such low salaried people, we’ll discuss about no-risk investment products, in this article.

Guaranteed Returns and Zero Risk:

Post office monthly savings scheme: Although it requires good amount of investment but the advantage is that an investor would earn monthly income till the tenure ends. For e.g. if a lower income earner invests Rs. 1, 00,000 in MIS for a tenure of 5 years, then he/she would receive monthly income of Rs. 683 and Rs. 1, 00, 000 as a maturity value. This scheme guarantees return and your money will be always safe. It is ideally suited for retired individuals.

Public Provident Fund: This is the most favorite investment product preferred by most of the Indians. A yearly investment of Rs. 1, 00,000 for the standard tenure of 15 years will earn maturity amount of 29.6 Lakh @ 8.1% interest rate. The minimum amount to be invested is Rs. 500 annually. Read more on personal loan for Rs.5000 earner.

Bank fixed deposit: FD is another safe product for conservative investor. And especially for individuals with low monthly income or self earners who do not want to take risk with their hard earned money, FD is a very good bet. Every bank offers different tenure starting from 7 days, 1 month, and one year as per the bank’s guidelines. If someone has accumulated e.g. Rs. 50, 000 and invests in FD for 1 year; then the maturity value @ 6.5% would be Rs. 53, 250 (compounded annually). Similarly for an investment of Rs. 25, 000; the maturity amount will be Rs. 26, 625. Check out credit card for low salaried individuals.

Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY): This was launched in January 2015 under the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao mission. Accounts can be opened only in the name of the girl child and is a very good return investment product. If a low income earner, deposits a fixed sum of money every month/year for 14 years (which is the standard tenure), then on maturity (i.e. after 21 years) the returns would be excellent. For e.g. an investment of Rs. 1000 & Rs. 2000 every month for a period of 14 years, the returns @ the current rate of 8.6% would be Rs. 5, 83,944 & Rs. 11, 73,887 respectively.

There is a minimum limit of Rs. 1000 that has to be deposited every year. So higher the amount poor salaried/earning person invests, greater would be returns, which are guaranteed and fixed with no risk at all. Compared to PPF, it gives higher returns and has become favorite since its launch. However account can be opened only for a girl child. Have a look how investing Rs. 50, 000 every year will give return of over 26, 00,000 (26 Lakhs).

National Savings Certificate: Similar to PPF and SSY, NSC also offers decent return @8% compounded every six month. Investing Rs. 1000 per month for a tenure of 5 years, will earn maturity value of Rs. 14, 802.

There are many other investment avenues but the ones listed above are recommended by experts and give higher returns.

As you can see above, all of the zero risk investments products require small amount of money to invest. When people earning less, start saving regularly and invest the same, they can create good corpus in the long run. This can help them at the time of need.