Sebi might tweak essence of balanced funds

Could be defined as schemes with 50:50 equity-debt mix

The Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (Sebi’s) proposed move to simplify category classifications of mutual fund schemes may lead to a change in the definition of balanced funds. The capital markets regulator has been going slow on approving balanced funds in the past few years and unofficially insisting on a 50:50 equity-to-debt mix for new scheme approvals. Currently, there is no standard definition of balanced funds.
 
Several fund houses already offer balanced schemes that have an equity allocation of 65 per cent or higher. This allows them to be classified as equity schemes, which enjoy a tax advantage