122: Debt funds and defaults

It’s been almost two months since the fixed income market was hit with the DHFL downgrade. While the company subsequently made the payment it had missed on June 4, liquidity problems persist not just with DHFL but with a raft of entities within corporate India.Jet Airways, Zee, Eveready, McLeod Russel, Cox and Kings…the list of stressed companies, rating downgrades and defaults has become longer and longer.In this environment, how should investors approach debt mutual funds? Is credit really a bad word? Are there any relatively safe funds one can 'hide' in and hopefully also earn better returns than a fixed deposit? We take this conversation forward with Amit Tripathi, CIO, fixed-income investments at Reliance Nippon Life Asset Management and Feroze Azeez, deputy CEO of Anand Rathi Financial Services.