There are some fund houses that offer life insurance benefit in the investment of various mutual fund schemes through systematic investment plans (SIP). This is the new concept adopted by fund houses to lure investors towards their mutual funds, initiated by DSPML AMC in 2005 with the name of Super SIP.
Some other players like Birla Sun Life Mutual Fund, Kotak AMC and Reliance Mutual Fund have come out with the same concept with new flavours. Birla Sun Life's MF scheme is known as Century SIP in which insurance expenses will be borne by the AMC. Generally these AMCs charge higher exit load in such schemes in case of redemption before maturity.
The ratings of some 5-star funds have now fallen to 3-star and the returns are also much less than their peers. I have invested through SIPs in two such funds